


A Taguel's Journal: Fable of Phoenix Drop

by Amorinda



Category: Minecraft diaries - Fandom
Genre: Aphmau - Freeform, Minecraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2019-09-27 18:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17167256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amorinda/pseuds/Amorinda
Summary: An unlikely duo stumble upon a strange town of zombie-like people. One runs from who she is, the other searches for her missing memories. Can these two unravel the mysteries of this world or will they fall to shadows? (A Minecraft Diaries fanfiction in which Aphmau is replaced by two others)





	1. Finella's Prologue

I've never written a journal like this before, so to any who may read this, bear with me.

I suppose I should start with who I am. My name is Finella, and I'm of a little-known race of half-bunny people known as Ta'guels. From what I was told as a child, our race was that of historians, intending to remain within one secluded village to guard a massive archive of history gathered from all over the world. It's what we've done for generations, ever since this major event that I later learned to be caused by a woman called Irene and her followers. I never paid much attention to those stories as a child, and now… I kind of regret it. So, to make up for it when I finally find my way home again, I'll give them a story to add.

I left home around fourteen years old; young for a human, but decently aged for us, since most of us are lucky to push fifty years. I've been traveling for maybe seven or eight years since, growing stronger and faster with each new land I've found. I normally wouldn't stay in one place long, since I wanted to see everything I could. Weird thing was, I started to find empty villages, and eventually I stumbled upon one full of living zombies of sorts.

This is where I met a friend and cherished loved one, a half-wyvern girl by the name of Aurora. I'd never known somebody lie her existed, as honestly I've only ever encountered humans through my journeys. After we met, the strange village became my new home, and it's where I'll actually begin my tale. I'm writing this prologue thingy somewhere in the middle of things, since I doubt my adventures will be over anytime soon, but I want to start recalling everything up to this point before it gets too hazy to properly remember. I don't know what the future holds, or even if I'll find my old home again, but these are my feelings as of starting this journal.

This is the story of the village I came to be co-Lord of, Phoenix Drop.


	2. The Strange Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true first chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the official beginning of this story! Side note, if something is broken by a line, that means we're shifting from what Finella is writing to her direct memory of things, since it isn't easy to completely turn it all into a journal. More than likely I'll have every chapter formatted to her writing the entry, leading into the memory as it would be from the role-play. Anyways, that's my spiel; enjoy!

Day one of our adventure together started out nothing like I had imagined. I had finally found a village with life – if you could call it that. I had wandered through for a short time, trying to talk to people in hopes of learning what the village’s name was or even if I could spend the night, but all I ever received in return were generic, automated comments. “Are you new here?” “Hello!” “Good evening.” Stuff like that. I remember getting frustrated and complaining about it before noticing another woman walking about, just as confused as me. She was also half-human, much like I was…

* * *

“Hey! Excuse me!” I called as I hurried towards her. ‘ _Please let her be normal…_ ’ I thought as I approached, not wanting to deal with another zombie-person.

The woman jumped slightly, turning to face me with a look of surprise.

“Ahm… Hello…?” she squeaked softly, a mix of confusion and relief filling her face.

“Oh, thank goodness! That’s the most normal response I’ve gotten!” I said, exasperated and overjoyed at the same time. “Everyone here is pretty much a zombie. I’ve been hoping to find an inn or at least somebody nice enough to let me stay with them, but it’s as if this place is just… hollow. I can’t even find the Lord amongst them.” I told her, looking around and crossing my arms.

“I noticed the same,” she replied after a short silence, starting to fidget with her hair. “It’s… actually really creepy. Ah…! But there was one man who I spoke with from this town.”

“Wait, really?? That’s great, maybe I can actually learn something about this place! Hopefully there’s an open… shack I guess for me to set my bed down and rest a while.” I stretched a bit, offering her a little smile. “Think you could show me to him? Oh, I’m Finella, by the way.”

“Aurora. My name’s Aurora. It’s nice to meet you,” she replied as she led me towards where she had met the man.

Waiting just ahead of us was a guard, possibly even the head guard of this village given his full armor plating. It didn’t take long for him to notice our approach, swiftly standing straighter.

“Greetings, ladies. How can I help you?” he asked once we were close enough.

I let out an immediate sigh of relief, having feared that, somehow, she had been mistaken about the man. “I need a place to stay for a while. My name’s Finella, and I’m a wandering adventurer of sorts. I’ve been traveling for a while now and was hoping to talk with your Lord about staying a few days.” I explained, blessing Aurora for finding this man and sparing my sanity.

“Oh…” he began rather awkwardly, “we don’t have a Lord. I’ve been in charge of this village since he went missing. I’m Garroth; it’s a pleasure to meet you Finella… and…?” He paused, looking towards Aurora, who then said her name softly. He gave a soft nod in response. “And Aurora.”

“Then… your village is one that lost theirs…?” I found myself murmuring, looking over towards the other villages. I’d heard of this happening; a village’s Lord would suddenly vanish, and slowly the villagers would lose themselves to a monotoned state. But I never thought it was real, which is probably why it didn’t immediately click as a possibility when I first arrived. This was a perfect opportunity to investigate those rumors. “Well, then as stand-in leader, would you permit me to stay a while? Adventuring is exhausting, and it’d be nice to settle down for a bit.”

“I’d like to stay here as well…” Aurora spoke up before he could answer. Garroth looked between us, seeming to think it over before giving us a small nod.

“As long as neither of you cause any trouble, I won’t mind if you stayed here for as long as you wish. There should be an empty house nearby for you both to take over, and of course there’s plenty of room for you to build your own homes.”

“Eh, I’m not much of a builder. I’ll just claim an empty shack; a bed and walls are all I need.” I told him, turning towards Aurora with a little smile. “What about you? What are you gonna do?” I was admittedly quite curious about her, given that I’d never seen a girl with horns like her before.

“Well…” She paused for a moment, looking around and spotting a nearby hill, pointing up towards it. “I think I could set something up there on that hill. I’ll probably need a little shack while building. If… that’s alright?” She looked awkwardly towards Garroth, who responded with a soft chuckle before again giving the okay.

“Then we’re set. Thanks, Garroth.” I said, giving them both a wave before going to find a little shack to spend my time in.

After some searching, I found a shack with a ladder to the roof and decided that would be my home, for the sake of satisfying my need to be a hero of sorts. I always wanted to be somewhere I could spot danger so I could leap in and protect anyone in need. I was never great with keeping a bow steady, but neither sword nor dagger would waver in my hands. But this time, it wasn’t just a hero mentality that made me choose a building like this one. I honestly felt bad for these villagers; they all seemed so oblivious to their surroundings. I could hear them saying those same greetings, even from inside my home, as if they were on a timer to say it.

With a small sigh, I finally set my bed down and deciding to rest for a while. It was still daylight, but I figured I might as well get some sleep before the mobs come in. More than likely, this village would need somebody to defend it, and as far as I could tell Garroth was the only one conscious enough to do so. “We’ll just have to wait and see…” I murmured softly before falling asleep.

_**To be continued…** _


	3. The First Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two, Part One

While I had been sleeping, Aurora had set to work on the hilltop she had pointed to. She's honestly an incredible builder, but before she could start building, another conscious man in guard's armor had approached her. This man was Garroth's apprentice, a guard-in-training named Zenix.

I don't really know what they had talked about until the next morning, but come nightfall, I was awake again, and soon I would learn just how bad the situation in the village really was.

After a yawn and stretch, I leapt up the ladder and took a peek at the village as the last remnants of sunlight began to fade… only to see just how hopeless these villagers were. A good chunk of them were just sleeping upright in the streets, and I could already hear the first wave of mobs approaching.

* * *

"Oh for… Guess I'm staying here a while after all." I muttered to myself, leaping over the fence and down to the ground, rolling to dampen the impact and damage on me. It was better to have a lightly damaged arm and leg than it was to have a seriously damaged leg.

I quickly rose up to my feet, trying to push people back towards the shacks before the actual dangers arrived. I couldn't even figure out how any of them even managed to survive without their Lord for more than a night.

"Will you idiots wake up already? You need to get inside!" I shouted, struggling to push them into any nearby building.

Some guard that guy was, just letting the citizens sleep outside like that. I had to give up trying to move them back into a house or shack as a herd of zombies came into view, shambling ever closer. Instead, I pulled my dagger out, preparing to just slice through them as quickly as possible.

"Fine. Hard way's more fun, anyways."

I charged into the group, darting close to attack as many as possible before leaping back, finding a safe pattern of timing that would allow for maximum damage on them and minimal damage towards myself.

As I fought, I began to calm down a bit more, realizing that the guard from before was probably busy protecting other people elsewhere in the village. By the time I finished cutting down the little pack of zombies, Creepers had begun making their way into the village, gunning towards the villagers I was trying to protect.

"Dammit, I can't protect anyone with those things…!" I complained, glancing around for any other solution. I really didn't want it to come to this, but it seemed I had no other choice. One by one I pinched them all awake, accepting their irritated retaliation as I forced them into the buildings nearby.

Going like this, I was actually able to get them safely behind doors, moving deeper into the village until I spotted Garroth, seeing him struggle just the same as I had been.

"Hey, need a hand?" I called out to him as I pushed the last villager to safety, finally drawing my sword to fight properly. My speed would be a bit reduced, but this way I could deal more damage. Against Creepers, this method was preferred for me.

Garroth looked over to me, pausing for a second in surprise when he noticed I was actually trying to get people indoors. He gave me a small nod before turning back to a spider he had been fighting, saying only a quick 'thank you' as he cut it down.

By this point, it seemed like the main attackers were Creepers, and Aurora had come down to see us fending the mobs off. She spotted one coming up behind me, ready to detonate, and swiftly pulled out her remaining cobble to send towards it with her magicks. Thankfully, she had it surrounded just before it could go off, leaving only a dent in the ground where it stood and a crumbling pile of her used cobble. The muffled explosion startled me, causing me to look around after slaying a spider that had snuck in, seeing the cobble mess and soon spotting Aurora not too far off.

"Whatever you just did, that was awesome! Keep it up if you can!" I called to her with a little grin, looking back to another Creeper before pulling my dagger back out and throwing it. I landed the hit square on its head, but it wasn't enough to kill it. I needed maybe a couple more hits with my sword, but now I had to try and get my dagger back without triggering an explosion.

"A-ah, r-right…!" she called back, continuing to use her magicks and remaining cobble to trap the Creepers so we wouldn't have to worry about them exploding on us. She left the one with my dagger alone, figuring I'd want that back.

"Let's get the mobs away from town!" Garroth called, admittedly quite impressed with us both. Well, he questioned me throwing my dagger, but figured now wasn't the time to criticize.

"Good plan! Aurora, think you can make a wall to push them and us out?" I asked, leaping at the Creeper to try and kill it, but not getting away fast enough. As I tried to leap back, it exploded, throwing me and my dagger into the wall of a nearby home. "That… hurt…" I muttered as I tried to get back up, quickly examining my weapons. My dagger was in desperate need of repairs, but my sword was still good enough to fight with.

Garroth took down yet another mob, although I didn't see what, before hurrying over to me and offering a hand to help me up. At the same time, Aurora built up a quick two-block-high wall, maybe a couple blocks deep, to begin pushing the mobs away from us instead of trapping me and Garroth with them.

"Come on, we'll have them out soon," he told me.

"Heh, honestly I could go like this all night." I replied as I took his hand, glad for the help back up.

I looked down at the skirt I wore to protect my legs, giving a bit of a sigh. That last explosion shredded it pretty bad, so rather than deal with tatters against my skin, I opted to just tear it off completely. I had mid-length shorts on underneath, so I wasn't too concerned about it, but Garroth was definitely not prepared for that, nearly stumbling back off a small ledge.

"How are you doing up there, Aurora?" I called, completely oblivious to the poor guard's reaction as I looked up to her, relieved that nothing had snuck up on her.

"Whenever you two are ready, I can funnel them towards you so they'd be easier to fight." She replied, looking a bit too tired to keep pushing the wall out of the village, considering she had to constantly change it in order to account for the buildings.

"I'm ready." Garroth said once he had composed himself, to which I nodded in response.

"Then let's finish this up. Go ahead, Aurora! We'll make these mobs regret coming to this village!" I said, giving a quick stretch before readying my sword again.

I couldn't stop myself from grinning excitedly, a wild look entering my eyes as Aurora made a little opening in the wall, instead creating a small space that led up to us that would only allow maybe two or so mobs at a time to face us. With a smaller amount to worry about, and Garroth fighting with me, I didn't need to worry too much about saving my stamina. I just hoped he'd be able to keep up with that heavy armor of his.

_**To be continued in part two…** _


	4. Dawn Breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second part of chapter two

The battle lasted until maybe an hour or two away from dawn, and Garroth had proven more than capable of speed and maneuvering despite the full iron armor. I remember wishing I had armor like that myself, as by that point my arms and legs were both pretty battered, and I had quite a few scratches on my face from a few arrows that just barely missed.

I couldn't remember a time before then that I had fought for so long or sustained as much damage. Looking back, I was lucky to have had Aurora and Garroth fighting beside me, otherwise I would have been crushed for sure.

We waited for a good while after the last mob fell, just to make absolute sure there were none left hiding anywhere before finally relaxing.

* * *

"Phew…" I breathed, sheathing my sword with a small wince. "That was pretty exciting. How are ya holding up, Aurora?" I asked as I looked towards her, wincing again as I started to move towards her.

"I… I'm okay…" she replied, clearly exhausted as she relinquished control of the cobble, letting it all collapse upon itself. "I'm… going to need to sleep… soon."

Garroth let out a small breath of his own, needing a second to calm down again before speaking up. "Thank you both for your help."

"No problem," I replied with a little smile, moving over to help Aurora stay standing. "Like I said before, I'm an adventurer. Fighting like this has kind of become a way for me to relax. But hey, you're not bad yourself, Garroth. You move pretty fast for a guy in full armor. Honestly, I wouldn't mind sparring with you sometime."

"I'd be honored to spar with you," he replied with a small nod.

I found myself laughing softly at his comment. "You'd be 'honored,' huh? I'm flattered."

"Are you two alright? You should make sure you aren't too badly hurt." Aurora spoke up once she had relaxed again, catching my attention.

"I'm alright, Aurora. Just a few scratches." I assured her, although it was definitely more than just a few. "We all just need some sleep. Where are you staying? I'll help you get there."

"Up there," Aurora said as she pointed back to the same hill as before. "I'm kinda thinking now maybe being so far up a hill wasn't the  _best_  idea… heh…"

Garroth gave a soft laugh before looking over the village grounds at the remains left behind by the mobs. "You two should go ahead and rest, I'll take care of cleaning the area."

"Do you ever sleep? You could stand to rest a little, too." I told him, starting up the hill. "So, Aurora… What was that back there? I've never seen magicks like that." I asked once we were far enough away from Garroth. He seemed trustworthy, but I wasn't yet sure if he was one of those anti-magicks people… although he probably wasn't, given he had witnessed it, too.

"O-oh, um… I didn't want anyone to know," she replied with a sigh. "It's not dangerous, but… I can move things around me. I use it to build my homes. It makes moving things a lot easier, and I can get more stuff done. Before those monsters arrived, I was working on the roads and that awfully placed well."

"Cool. Guess that explains how you built that thing so fast." I replied, looking up at her home. "It's a bit big for a temporary home, isn't it? I mean… unless you plan to stay?" By now I was already debating staying for a bit longer than anticipated given the mystery and the danger these villagers were currently in, but having her stay too might actually be great. "Think you'd be able to help me make a new skirt? My last one got shredded, although maybe I shouldn't have just left the fabric back there…"

"Ah… I figured I'd stay a little while. If Garroth lets me, I want to help these villagers maybe not be so… zombie-ish," she replied, laughing a little at my skirt comment. "I'm sure Garroth'll bring the fabric back to you."

"Hm… He's pretty interesting. I've never seen such a dedicated guard. Shame they don't have a Lord, though… I think I'll stick around a bit, too. At least until they have a proper wall to keep the hostile mobs out. It must be exhausting for him to be taking care of all these people on his own."

"He's not all on his own." Aurora stated, seeming to be a little confused. "He's supposed to have a guard-in-training with him. It's… weird he wasn't helping you both out."

"He has an apprentice?" I asked, a little surprised I hadn't met him yet. Then again, I was sleeping. "Maybe… he was defending a different part of town?"

"Maybe, but there really isn't much else here. He acted so oddly when I spoke to him, too."

"Oddly? Are you sure he's not just quirky or something? People have weird habits, maybe his were just… weirder than most." Still, she didn't seem like the type to accuse somebody without solid reasoning… I'd have to meet this guard. Er, guard-in-training.

"Maybe," she replied, still sounding unsure. "He was just at the top of the hill when I built my house. It didn't make much sense for him to be up there. I might just be over-thinking it, though…"

I continued to think it over as I brought her up to her door, looking back over the village. I could just barely make Garroth out from up there, let alone the villagers waking up and coming outside.

"Yeah… That is a little weird, but… maybe this was just his spot away from things? Like, a place where he could relax away from everyone but still be close enough, just in case something happened. Still, I think I'd like to meet him. Just in case your concerns are right. A corrupt guard could easily spell a town's doom."

"I know," Aurora nodded in agreement. "Thank you for bringing me home, by the way. If you'd like to stay here with me, I wouldn't mind."

"I would, but I left my bed in the shack. Besides, I need to get my skirt back to try and salvage it." I replied. "You know, you'd make a great Lord. You've got a very kind heart."

"O-oh…" she said, her cheeks warming up as she smiled softly. "Thank you, but… I don't think I'd be able to do something like that. I'm not good with people…"

"Coulda fooled me. I still think you'd do a great job. Better than me, at least. Hafta admit I can be… pretty impulsive. I'd be a risk as a Lord." I admitted with a small laugh, rubbing my neck. "Anyways, you needed sleep, right? I won't keep ya. Sleep well, Aurora." I said, letting her step inside on her own.

"Maybe we'd work well together as Lords." She joked as she walked away, though clearly a little awkward. "I will, thanks." She added before closing the door and heading to bed.

"Together…" I murmured as she left. That wasn't exactly a bad idea.

I smiled at the thought, having never heard of a village with two Lords. But for the moment, the wear of my wounds was finally getting to me. I moved as quickly as I could manage back to my shack, again forgetting to find the torn fabric of my skirt on the way. Once 'home,' I promptly laid down in bed, passing out mere seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Had to break this section up into two parts, since I'd rather avoid making massive chapters if I can! But that just about wraps the beginning of the tale, and next chapter establishes the new Lord of Phoenix Drop! College does start up next week though, so apologies if the chapter gets uploaded late. Changing a two-person para-RP into a story isn't as easy as I thought it would be, but so long as it comes out okay it'll be worth it!
> 
> Side note, if people ever want to see a chapter through Aurora's eyes, I'd be more than happy to do so! There will definitely be some chapters like that anyways, since there will definitely be moments when Finella won't be there for the actual adventure, but early on is mostly just Fin recounting everything that's happened, so an Aurora POV chapter would be more of a bonus thing should it be wanted.


	5. A Partnership is Formed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I want to avoid making long chapters," I say, proceeding to make a nearly 3,000 word chapter. I couldn't find a place to break it up. I tried!

The morning after night one, Garroth had dropped off the destroyed fabric of my skirt, which gave me the chance to mend it best I could. The next few days passed about the same way, with me and Garroth defending different sections of the village each night. I decided to just stay in the little shack I had and continued a more nocturnal schedule to protect the village at night. Because of this, I had near no opportunities to meet this guard-in-training that unnerved Aurora the first day, as he never really showed up to help defend at night.

Aurora, on the other hand, worked hard each day to make the roads neater and some of the homes larger for the villagers. They were even starting to recognize the both of us a little bit more, their responses being a little bit more familiar than the typical "are you new around here" type remarks.

As the week drew near to a close, the two of us admittedly had grown quite fond of these people… but my initial request was to only hold up there for about a week. After finishing up my fighting for the night, I began to gather my belongings and clear out the shack. Sure, I was sad to say farewell to this place, but I didn't know if I'd be able to sit still in a village like this for much longer. Still, I found myself delaying my packing as long as possible, reluctant to leave without a goodbye, even if it would have made leaving harder. While I internally debated the choice ahead, however, a timid little knock had come to my door.

* * *

"Finella?" Aurora's voice came through the door, "It's… It's me, Aurora…!"

I looked up from my bag, having been wasting time by double-checking my bag over and over, before going to the door and opening it with a smile.

"Hey Aurora! What's up?" I asked, dodging the obvious subject. I was admittedly most sad to think I might leave her. I couldn't help her build the town up, but I had come to honestly enjoy her company. Whenever we had a chance to meet up, that is.

I really did prefer quieter people compared to those with strong wills like my own. I was able to actually get along with them, since the odds of us butting heads would be significantly lower, and nobody would get set off. Which usually would be me, given I did have a pretty short temper.

But Aurora… She made me feel calm. It wasn't often I felt so relaxed during my adventures, so I had really come to enjoy that about her. She could bring me down from any sort of agitation, and I didn't feel like I had to fight as much whenever she was around me. I didn't want to leave her… but could I really stay if I couldn't do much to help?

"I just… ahm…" she began again, stammering over her words as she looked between me and the ground a few times, "I just… wanted to say goodbye… I'm… ha-happy to have met you and um… I really wish you could stay longer and that I hope you come back and v-visit… ahm…"

I stared at her for a moment, my heart actually breaking a little to see her looking so saddened. Not that I'd ever admit it. One of the first rules of adventuring was to not make any deep attachments like this… but I guess I'm just not as good an adventurer as I thought.

"Aurora… I… was actually hoping to talk to you about that." I started, finally settling on a decision. "You wouldn't mind if I actually took you up on that offer, right? Of crashing at your place? I mean, it seems you're dead-set on being this town's Lord, and maybe as a team… it wouldn't be that bad." Unless she had changed her mind about it, this would make a perfect excuse to stay here.

I watched her expression shift from sadness to confusion, and from there to surprise. I couldn't blame her for not expecting me to ask this. The whole week, it honestly seemed like I wasn't going to be staying, and behind me my stuff was all packed up. However, her first response wasn't exactly what I was expecting, either.

"I'm…! I'm not trying to be the Lord… I just… want to help…" she said nervously, having to correct herself after the first squeak, before continuing on. "B-but I'd love it if you could stay with me!" From there, she seemed to instantly shift from nervous to excited. "I can, um, make you your own area if you want me too. Maybe I could start digging out under the house and make a cute little cave area that can hold all our stuff and… um…"

"I'd love that," I replied with a soft laugh, moving to give her a hug. "But if I stay… I want to see you become the Lord. I'll have your back, so you won't have to worry. I've never heard of two Lords in a village before though, so this'll be a first for all of us."

"I'm flattered. I'll try my best as long as you're by my side, Fin."

"Then I can promise you'll be the best Lord ever. Though I think we need to give this town a name at some point, since nobody seems to even know what it's called…"

"Um… Mind if we wait on giving it a name for now?" Aurora asked, pulling from the hug at this point. "I'm not good with names for stuff and I wanna find out if there was a name before."

I took a moment to think it over before giving a little nod and smile to her. "Sure! Who knows, maybe the town has one. We just gotta find it somehow… Hmm… Hey, think you'd be up for a little adventure with me?"

"Sure, but… um… Maybe we should talk to Garroth first. He might like to know we're both staying, and that we'll be 'going on an adventure.'"

"Oh, true! He might even be able to give us a tip! Any clue where he is?" I asked as I went to pick my bag up.

"I usually see him wandering around on the other side of the village," she told me, making a gesture for me to follow.

I nodded and followed her outside, shutting the door even though there was really no point. Even though we'd been here the same amount of time, she definitely knew the layout of the village better than I did. Maybe because she spent her time fixing the place up whereas I spent my time defending the zombie-like villagers at night.

"Hey," I began, looking at the townsfolk pass, "do ya think that maybe if we married the citizens, they'd start to wake up? I mean, they could always just split apart later, right?"

"You mean… marrying them to  _each other_?" Aurora asked, just to make sure I wasn't asking about us marrying them. "It's awful to say, but… controlling like that might help some. Could I leave that to you, though?"

"Erm… Why me? I mean… I can, probably… But what makes you think I'd be any good at wedding them?"

"I don't really know how to marry two people. But… maybe I should if I'm going to be a Lord, huh?"

"I have an idea as to 'how,' but we're probably gonna need a ton of iron…" I began, rubbing the back of my neck. I couldn't blame her for really asking me either, since we were going to be sharing responsibility as the leaders here. "Don't worry about learning it, I'll figure it out and handle it. All you'll have to worry about is doubling up the villagers to save on space with the housing."

"That's definitely true… Oh, maybe we can even go get more villagers or convince people passing through to stay. That might help, too!" Aurora suggested, now growing visibly excited. So much so that I couldn't help but laugh softly.

"That would be cool, building the town up even bigger! Ah, though… I can't exactly build well, so I think I'll leave the actual building to you. But as an adventurer, I've had to deal with all kinds of people, so I'll worry about the people's troubles in exchange. I just have a sort of short fuse at times, and more than likely I'll still be up late to fight the mobs…"

"That's fine with me," Aurora replied, seemingly relieved. "I can't do well with people, but I love building, so I can build whatever you might ask me to." She clasped her hands happily in front of her, and I could tell she was really glad to not be doing this alone. "Anyways, I think I see Garroth up ahead."

I looked forwards again and smiled, running on ahead in excitement.

"Hey, Garroth! Guess who's sticking around?" I called as I ran. Possibly the best positive out of my decision to stay was having him as a sparring partner to improve my fighting skills.

Garroth stopped walking when he heard me call, turning towards us and waiting until I was closer before speaking.

"Let me think…" he began, it being clear in his voice that he had an eyebrow raised behind his helmet, "It wouldn't possibly be you, Finella, would it?" Despite his words seeming to be against the idea, he actually sounded a little happy.

"Yup! I want to support Aurora as the new Lord of this town. She seems like she'd need my help for a while, and I get this strong feeling that being here will provide me with plenty of opportunities to satiate my need for adventure." I explained as Aurora caught up, noticing the other man in armor standing beside Garroth. "Oh, I don't think we've officially met," I began as I moved towards him with a smile. "I'm Finella. Aurora told me about you before… Zenix, right?"

"Um… Yes…" Zenix replied, a little put-off by my presence. "Are you both staying here, then?"

He seemed casual enough to me, at least. Sure, he didn't seem perfectly 'normal,' but this was a town full of zombie-like people that was about to be led by a half-dragon and half-rabbit. Nothing about this was normal. Well, Garroth might be 'normal' depending on what he was hiding under that helmet of his.

"We are, yes." Aurora replied with a little nod.

Garroth turned his attention towards Aurora, causing her to shrink a little and look away. "She wishes to become our new Lord?" he asked, to which she returned with a small shrug. He gave a small breath, his next sentence hinting at a smile beneath his helmet. "Alright, that sounds wonderful. It might be a good idea to hear out to our last Lord's home, then. It's just next to the hill Aurora's taken up at."

"Oh, sweet! We were going to ask about that kind of thing, too!" I exclaimed excitedly, looking to Aurora and grabbing her hand. "Come on, let's go!" I added before pulling her away to where Garroth said we should go.

As we left the two, my ears still picked up a little of their conversation. All I heard was Zenix voicing small concerns about having two Lords and Garroth assuring him that things would probably be fine. After that, all I heard were their voices, but no clear words.

"Finella, hold on…!" Aurora squeaked out once we entered the small wooded area outside town, slightly out of breath.

I caught myself and slowed my speed, realizing that I was probably going too fast for her to keep up. "Sorry, I'm just excited! I've been longing for a real intense adventure and this might be the first step! We may even learn what the village's name was!"

"I hope so…!" she replied, offering a smile as she did her best to keep up. "I'd love to keep the name it had before, or at least have it be something similar."

"Sure! I mean, you _are_ the primary Lord here. It'll be your choice." I told her, finally slowing to a walking pace for her sake.

"A-ah, I'm not even a Lord yet… W-we'd have to talk to Garroth more about m-me being Lord…" she stammered. Before I could tell her what I had heard him say as we left about him having confidence in us, she pointed ahead to the remains of an old home. "Is that what Garroth was talking about?"

I stopped at this point, looking at the run-down ruins. "Whoa… That's… really shredded apart. What do you think happened?" I asked, letting go of her hand and approaching it cautiously. I couldn't place it, but something about this place… unsettled me.

"I don't know…" she replied as she followed me into the former building. "It looks like someone attacked the home and blew it up. This can't be the Lord's house… It looks so… ruined."

"I think it is, and something tells me that there's more to these Lord disappearances than anyone seems to know." I carefully stepped past the threshold, my hand itching to draw my dagger just in case but refraining so as to not frighten Aurora any more than she already was. "This almost seems personal, like somebody had a grudge against him. Maybe he was a poor Lord to the people or something."

"I don't know…" Aurora murmured, bringing my attention to an old crib. "It looks like he had a family here. Could he have been that bad?"

"Maybe… he wasn't a good father, either? Garroth didn't mention him having a family… Who knows, maybe the mom took the kid and left him before the villagers revolted against him, only to end up forgetting he existed for some reason."

I continued to explore the ruins, soon noticing a decently in-tact desk up ahead. Normally I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it, but as I got closer, I spotted a book on top of it.

"Hey, what's this…?" I asked, catching her attention this time.

"It looks like a journal…" she replied as she moved to be beside me. "Maybe it's the old Lord's?"

"Must be…" I picked the book up, leafing through a few pages before handing it to her. "Here, you go ahead and look through while I explore a bit more. Looks like some of the pages are ripped out, too."

I didn't want to admit to her yet that I couldn't actually read the language of this land, especially not here. While she looked through the journal, I started to filter through the desk, just in case the torn pages were in there somewhere. Thankfully, Aurora had decided to read the journal aloud for the both of us:

_"Day one. I just arrived in a regular village. These villagers seem special; I think I'll try making my home here._

_Day two. The villager Milfina seems to like me a lot! I think I'm going to try to talk more with her…_

_Day three. Milfina and one of the guards are acting… "different"… But in a good way! This is kind of cool, actually."_

Then she fell silent, as the rest of the pages were torn out. I thought there was more on those three, but perhaps not.

"…Well? What next? Is there anything else?" I asked, having let my guard down as she started to read it out. A mistake I severely regret.

"There is, but… it's so weird, there's so much missing." she said, about to show me the last page when something hit the back of her head, knocking her out.

"Auror-!" I began, moving to turn and face whoever hurt her only to feel a sharp pain against the back of my own head, collapsing as the world fell dark.

 


	6. As the Sun Sets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Four

 

I slowly opened my eyes to the dim light of the sun starting to set, the back of my head throbbing just a little. I looked around in a daze, trying to remember what I was doing. I had come to these ruins searching for information on the previous Lord with…

"Aurora!" I gasped, looking towards her. She was still unconscious, but she wasn't bleeding and seemed to be breathing evenly. Even so, I hurried beside her, shaking her semi-frantically. "Aurora, are you okay? Wake up!"

What even happened to us? One moment we – or rather, she – had been reading the previous Lord's journal, and she was about to say something that seemed important…

"Ow…" Aurora's voice brought me back to focus, and I stopped shaking her so she could move onto her knees. "What… happened…?"

"I'm not entirely sure… Something, or some _one_ , must have knocked us both out." I told her as I continued to look around. Sure enough, the book she was holding wasn't around anymore. "Somebody didn't want us here. There must have been something on that last page they didn't want us to read… I knew I sensed an adventure! Oh, uhm… sorry you ended up getting hurt."

"It's okay, I just… need a second. Adventure means getting a few bumps and bruises."

Her soft laugh was enough to ease my worry, but I still felt awful for getting her injured. Didn't stop her from smiling to me anyways before looking around on her own, making the same discovery I did that the book was gone.

"Why would someone stop us from seeing the last page? The rest were already missing, and the first three were rather plain. Unless… There had to be something important there."

"But what? Man, this is so exciting! We can't forget this place; I'm sure it holds even more secrets for us to find!" I said, regaining that pumped energy as I shot up unto my feet. After a wave of dizziness from getting up too quickly, I held out my hand to help her back to her own feet. "For now, let's head back to see Garroth and Zenix. I feel like they should know about this."

"Thank you," Aurora began, giving me a little smile as she stood with me. Well, slightly above me, but all the same. "I agree. Garroth should definitely know. If nothing else, that someone dangerous is around the village."

"I don't hear anything out of the ordinary though…" I commented, letting my ears stand straight to really listen to our surroundings. All I could hear was the breeze rustling the leaves, the crickets waking up, and maybe a few birds taking flight or adjusting. But no footsteps. "They must have left. Seems we've been laying here a few hours now… Which means we should definitely get moving. Oh, were you able to catch anything on that last page?"

"No, I didn't get anything… Just the word 'who,' I think at least… Sorry. Whoever it was that attacked us didn't let me have any chance at really looking at the page. I can't remember what I might have read…"

"Damn…" I muttered, rubbing my neck. "Alright, well… It'll be dark soon, and I still have to move in with you. Come on, let's get going."

I couldn't help but sigh as we started out of the house and back towards the village. It wasn't that I was upset over the book; I couldn't even read it anyways. Rather, it was something about this town… something was far more wrong than I could even imagine. At least, that's what it felt like.

"Should we talk with Garroth first? Or should we wait for tomorrow?" Aurora asked, bringing me back out of my thoughts.

"I think now would be better. He needs to know about this as head guard, after all." I replied, keeping an ear out as we walked back.

If somebody was following us or something, I wanted to catch them this time. But as we grew closer to the village, the harder it became to discern the footsteps of the villagers from possible foreign ones.

"Maybe he'll know something else that could help us." I found myself adding once we entered the village, receiving those same automatic responses. Except… maybe a bit more familiar now.

"I hope so." Aurora said with a nod, looking around for the guard in question. "He might be over in the little plaza I created. Let's go check there."

"You made a plaza?" I asked, having been quite oblivious to most of her additions up to that point. "Girl, you've pretty much already announced yourself as the Lord."

I gave a little laugh as she grew visibly flustered, walking through the small crowd of people who actually seemed to already be more aware. Taking the time to really look, I noticed they were actually entering some of the houses now. They weren't just standing there meaninglessly anymore. They were walking with some sort of intent. Sure enough, our presence – her remodeling of the village and my aid in protecting everyone – must have started to awaken them somehow.

"Ah! Garroth!" I called as I spotted him in the plaza just ahead, running towards him.

To say that I saw him as an acquaintance by now would be a serious understatement. Through the week of working together at night, fighting back the mobs and such… I honestly gained serious respect for him and his dedication to his job. Fighting beside him gave me the energy I needed to go all night, and I even felt I was improving thanks to watching his fighting style. A guard like him was rare to say the least.

"Oh, hello." Garroth greeted as I approached, Aurora just behind me. "Good evening Lady Finella, Lady Aurora. You two have been gone for quite some time; I was almost ready to come and find you, had you not returned."

"Aw, how sweet! I can handle myself and Aurora, though, honey." I told him with a small laugh, though quickly stopping myself and clearing my throat. Now wasn't the time for teasing him. "Although, there… is a problem. See, we found the Lord's home…" I began, explaining pretty much everything to him. What we found, what we read, and that we had been attacked.

While at first, my teasing had indeed flustered him beneath his helmet, his demeanor over the course of my explanation shifted further. He had gone from being worried over us to being a little glad that we found something of interest, only to immediately shift back to a tense stance upon hearing that we had been knocked out.

"Someone attacked you both? Are you alright?" he asked us, the worry evident in his voice.

"We're alive and kicking still, aren't we?" I told him, snickering as I placed a hand on my hip. "Totally fine. Mild head pain still for me, but otherwise I'm sure we're good. Honestly, I'm ashamed that I hadn't noticed the footsteps… It's such a rookie mistake, too… It doesn't seem like we're any closer to figuring out the mystery behind the missing Lord."

"Besides the journal, nothing came up from the house?" Garroth asked. "Apologies. I thought you would have found more."

"It gave us more than before," Aurora piped up with a warm smile, despite still seeming nervous to talk with him. "Ah... You know… cause we didn't have anything… At least we have the start to an adventure."

"That's the spirit, Aurora!" I cheered, glad to hear her trying to be more adventurous. I gave her a smile and thumbs-up before turning back to Garroth, gently punching his arm. "As for you, lighten up a bit. Like she said, we have the start of an adventure now. We found enough to keep the fun going. Ah, speaking of fun, though… It'll be night soon, right? How about we get some rest before the monsters creep out? A good fight'll help me vent after making such a rookie error."

While it wasn't the first time I've messed up like that, it still stung. I was sure I'd make the same mistake a few more times in my life as well. Which meant it would probably sting more with each time I screw up.

"I think it might be a good idea in general for us to rest…" Aurora said, growing visibly anxious with a weak smile.

I made sure to give her a little nod, wanting her to know she was heard before Garroth spoke up again.

"I'll be sure to leave some monsters for you if you end up late, then." He told me, seemingly amused at the thought that I might actually sleep through the night or something.

"As if I'd be late!" I countered with my own amused tone. "See if Zenix is up for joining in tonight. I'd love to see how he handles a zombie horde."

Thinking it over, it was a little strange that I hadn't seen Zenix fighting beside Garroth each night, given that he  _was_  Garroth's apprentice. But still, I wanted to believe he had his reasons.

"Come on, Aurora. I'll 'escort' you home." I said jokingly, motioning for her to start ahead.

"Alright." She murmured in response, her smile softening a little.

Even so, she began walking back, leading the way to her home. I couldn't keep from smiling eagerly, feeling so incredibly excited for what might await us in the future. So many different theories filled my mind, one namely being about some sort of secret organization or something plotting against the growth of villages. After all, the Lord seemed to have stumbled upon this place like me and Aurora had. There may have even been a Lord before that one that vanished out of nowhere. I was honestly too excited to really keep from jumping to all these different possible conclusions, each as ridiculous as the last.

"It's gonna be so weird, acting like a Lord." I found myself commenting after a particularly bizarre possibility that it was actually a secret Lord society or something. "I mean, am I gonna have to be super diplomatic and stuff? That sort of seems more up your alley, since you're significantly better at being formal and polite than I am."

Of course, I did plan on keeping my word to handle the people. But if there was a Lord society or something… It might be better if she did most of the talking. At least until I learned how to reign myself in.

"I don't know. I really hope I don't have to be diplomatic. I'm not good at talking to many people… I can barely talk to you and Garroth half the time."

"Then I'll help you. And, in return for helping you handle people… maybe you could teach me how to properly build things. Heck, I could even teach you how to fight with a sword if you don't know that much. I'd feel bad if something snuck up on you again and you weren't able to defend."

"Oh… That would be very helpful. I only know how to basically not stab myself with a sword, and knowing how to speak to people would definitely be good. Besides, I'd love to show you how to build something proper."

"You could probably teach me to  _be_  proper, too. I'm sure you've already noticed, but I'm pretty informal; I'm sure that I'll need to be more formal as a Lord."

"More than likely."

"Ah! My bag!" I gasped, realizing it wasn't on me anymore. "I must have forgotten it at the Lord's house! Ugh, why can't I ever remember the important stuff… Guess I'll just have to go back for it in the morning after the village is cleared. Can't exactly sleep without a bed, right?"

"You have such memory issues." Aurora joked softly.

At least my 'memory issue' was useful in lightening the situation again.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault this time! My head was hurting, after all." I pointed out with a laugh, hooking my arm into hers and grinning. "You know, this is gonna be super awesome. I'm actually amused to find somebody as pure of an opposite of me as you are. I'm sure you get similar comments as I do, too. For me, it's this whole 'I'm a bunny, so  _clearly_  I can't be outgoing and tough.' Am I wrong that it's similar?"

"Ah… Yeah…" she replied, awkwardly adjusting her arm to match me. "I usually get things like… 'A half-dragon? How can you be a half-dragon and  _not_  be tough and scary?' or some… other rude and upsetting comments about how I look. I'm glad you go through the same thing…" She let out a soft sigh before realizing what she had said, gasping and quickly shifting to panic-mode. "Ah! I mean… that… you understand what it's like! I wouldn't hope you go through the same stuff or anything like that!"

"Relax, silly!" I told her, laughing softly at her panic. "I understand what you mean. Trust me, it'll be really hard for you to upset me. I mean, you don't seem to have any kind of ill intent in your anywhere, so even if you said something really awful… I doubt you'd actually mean it."

A few moments of awkward silence passed as she tried to calm herself back down, and by the time she was, we had reached her door.

"Well, time to get some rest, right? I'll just lean against a wall or something for a bit." I told her as I released her arm.

"Ah… Right… um… I have some spare wool so I could make you a bed if you wanted." She replied as she opened her door, letting me enter first. "I really wouldn't mind. I won't be using the wool for anything else, anyways."

"You sure? Cuz that'd be really nice, actually…" I said, facing her as I stepped inside.

Once I actually turned to see the interior, I couldn't help but whistle. It wasn't like some super fancy manor or anything, but it definitely felt cozier and homier than the little shack I had been crashing in. Just a simple, warm home with simple decoration and color. Easy on the eyes and welcoming to the weary.

"Nice place… You really are good at this." I told her with a smile.

"Thank you," was her simple reply as she closed the door, moving to a chest to pick up the materials and, from there, to a crafting table to put it all together. "I like having very comfortable and warm-feeling places."

"Well, this is definitely both those things. I might be a little late after all." I commented, rubbing my neck with a little laugh. "Say… Just out of curiosity, what do you think about Garroth and Zenix? I mean, they're the only two sane people here. Do you think they might know more about the missing Lord than they're sharing?"

"Hm? Um…" She paused in her work, thinking my questions over. "Well… I'm not sure. Zenix hasn't been giving much information, if any at all. I'm really not sure about him because it just seems… weird that he hasn't been around much to help at night. Not to mention… he doesn't seem happy that we would like to become the Lords? But then again, he doesn't seem upset about it either… Garroth, though, has been incredibly helpful. I'm kinda curious what he looks like under that helmet of his. At the very least, isn't this what makes adventuring fun? Finding out what they don't want to tell?"

"Hmm…" I hummed, caught up mostly on her one comment. "Betcha he's got a massive scar across his face. Like, some nasty battle scar from a memory he isn't ready to share. He seems badass enough for that, at least." I commented with a little grin, holding up my arms to look over my own scars.

They weren't big really, or even all that noticeable. These scars were enough to say I was an adventurer, but I was still fresh compared to most others. I hadn't grown or experienced enough to hold a real scar with a serious story, and half of these were just from childish 'destressing' fights with mobs at night. "But you're right about Zenix… He does seem kind of off. Just a little. Maybe he's trying to adjust to having a Lord again, or he's wary that we'll be as bad as the last one might have been. Besides, he might join the fighting tonight, so there's a chance he'll come and warm up to the idea of us!"

"Garroth doesn't really seem like the type to have a scar across his face, Finella…" Aurora began, having to work through everything I said. "If he does have a scar of some kind, I bet it's actually on his back or his chest. I wonder if he's handsome…"

"Oooh, that's significantly sexier~!" I chimed, cutting her thoughts short. "Never thought you'd think of something like that, Aurora~!"

"Ah…!" She squeaked from my interruption, quickly shaking her head to counter the fluster. "I-I hope Zenix warms up to us…" she continued, trying to bring the conversation back to the initial topic. "He could always be like me and just… not like to socialize."

She stepped back from the table to reveal a completed bed, using her magicks to lift it and place it down on the opposite side of the home, giving me that empty space until she could make me my own space.

"He might be, actually. Shame… He's kinda cute looking, too. Not exactly the hottest or anything, but definitely not bad." I commented, moving to the new bed. "Thanks again for the bed, by the way."

"He is kinda cute…" Aurora replied, blushing once more as a small smile filled her face. "But definitely not my type. And it's no problem. I'm sure sleeping against the wall isn't too comfortable. You should be comfortable to be able to fight monsters." She told me, moving to her own bed and settling in.

"Honestly, just having a bed is good enough for me. I'm used to having less than comfortable sleeping situations." I shrugged, removing my chest plate and getting ready to rest. "Do you think… we'll be good Lords? I mean, I've never been in a position like this, having people's lives completely in my hands. I've always travelled alone, so I've never really lead anyone…"

"I hope so… I wish we knew what happened to the other Lord. I don't wanna end up like him or doing the same thing that might have angered the villagers."

"Hey, no worries. I'm sure it'll be harder to get rid of two Lords. I got your back, honey." I told her as I felt sleep start to overcome me.

I didn't bother fighting it, letting it take me as I heard one last 'thank you' from Aurora, who sounded just as tired. So long as I was able to wake up in a few hours, which given my prior unplanned nap, couldn't be too hard. The events of the day were just so overwhelming… I couldn't help but pass out near immediately.


	7. An Innocent's Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Five

Since the day I moved in with Aurora, we had officially become known as the Lords of the village. The next couple of weeks passed in almost the blink of an eye.

Nothing particularly special happened during this time. Aurora continued her alterations and remodeling of the village and her home, making a basement area for our combined storage use that doubled as my home. She even gave me an entire glass wall so I could view the village!

As for me, I began working on waking the villagers up. As a test, I married Dale, a village guard, and Molly, who I assume was a farmer. Of course, neither protested at the time, but they dashed my expectations of splitting apart once they (hopefully) regained consciousness. Rather, they seemed to be incredibly fond of each other! Never thought I'd be successful at match-making.

Brendan, another farmer, also had come to his senses at some point, building us a little dock as a thank you. This allowed a merchant-scout named Ethan to stop by, although Aurora was the one to talk with him, so I don't know much about that. Following Ethan's visit, however, came a man named Paul, a merchant that traveled from Bright Port with his sailor friend, Visher. The two were just traveling when they came across our little port and decided to dock and see if they could stay a night or two. Having no reason to say no, we agreed and let them spend the night.

It was that night that our happy days took a startling halt.

* * *

I jolted awake from the sound of a nearby explosion, quickly rushing upstairs and to Aurora's bedside.

"Aurora, something's wrong! I heard an explosion, and I'm certain it wasn't a Creeper! Somebody must have attacked us somewhere!"

I called to her as I ran up the stairs, turning to find her already getting out of bed.

"I heard it," she replied as she hurried to a window that overlooked the town. "It doesn't look like anything is destroyed in the village."

She then moved to try and see the beach, but the view was blocked by trees. Instead, she went outside, and I followed her despite having no armor or weapons in case the attacker remained.

I turned towards the beach right away, freezing for just a moment before racing down and full speed. I had to confirm what I thought I saw, and unfortunately…

…I was right.

What remained of Visher's corpse lay burnt in the sand, the dock and his boat completely ruined. Despite having seen death like this multiple times before, and even a few times being the cause of a death for the sake of my own survival, my legs still felt weak at the sight. I had  _never_  seen something so gruesome.

"Who would… why…? This can't be… He was a good man…" I found myself saying aloud, trembling in a mix of anger and fear.

Whoever did this had to still be nearby. Somebody that really did want to start trouble with our village.

"What happened?" Garroth called as he rushed to the beach. "I heard an explosion and came as soon as I…could…" His footsteps slowed to a halt beside me, staring down at the same body I was.

"Visher… was killed…" I managed to say through clenched teeth, barely keeping myself together. Whoever did this had to still be near, but I couldn't chase them in my pajamas with only a robe for armor and no weapons. "Somebody didn't want him or Paul to go home. They killed an innocent man… for what? Why would somebody do this? I just… I don't understand… Dammit!"

"I…" Aurora squeaked out at the start of the beach, having finally brought herself down.

I immediately cursed myself, looking back to her at the same time as Garroth. How could I have been so careless as to say that when she could have heard me? I should have been more discreet, for her sake…

"You have to stay calm, both of you." Garroth quickly said, easily reading us. "We  _will_  figure out what happened, but none of us can afford to freak out, alright? Just take a deep breath. If the villagers come to see they see you upset, they may begin to panic."

I bit the inside of my lip before giving a stiff nod and releasing a slow, shaky breath.

"Right… I… I need to blow off some steam really quick… Just… Aurora… Don't get too close to him, alright? He…" I paused, glancing back to him for a moment before looking ahead again. "He really doesn't look good."

With that said, I hurried into the nearby woods, staying close enough to hear what was happening on the beach but distanced enough to not be seen. I couldn't fight, but I could punch a tree. After all, the dock would need more wood, right? But at least from here, I could still catch their conversation.

"What… should we do…?" Aurora asked meekly.

"I would like not to tell anyone in the village until this matter is figured out, but… for now, we have to let Paul know and make sure none of the villagers heard the noise or are coming to see." Garroth told her, his voice quieter than hers.

"I… I can do that…" Aurora said, sounding at least a little stronger.

I turned around as I finished removing the logs of a tree trunk, watching her go with a sigh. I busted down another couple trees, placing the logs in a bundle on the ground before heading back down to the beach to actually handle things. I stopped by out home first, picking up some bandages to wrap up my fists before scaling down the cliff, mostly to avoid any villagers. Though again… I forgot to actually change or grab anything to defend with.

"Is Aurora alright?" I asked, relieved to find Garroth still there, watching over the scene. I couldn't exactly admit to eavesdropping, doing my best to keep my ears relaxed the whole while. "And… what should we do? I'm not the brains here. Aurora is supposed to guide me, and… this is definitely too much for either of us."

"I'm not sure. She looks like she's never seen someone dead before, so I would believe she'd need some time to breathe." Garroth said with a sigh. "We have to investigate as much as possible before anything else happens. There may be more explosives somewhere that weren't tripped. And Lady Finella, you both are new to being Lords, so it's alright if you aren't too sure about what to do. That's why I'm here, to help you."

"Thanks, Garroth. It really means a lot."

I was honestly relieved at how level-headed he was despite the wild situation. This wasn't something to act rashly over, and thanks to him I was able to realize it and release my anger in a more productive way.

"Alright, first thing, then: scan around for any possible lingering explosives. What… what should we do about Visher? I don't want to leave him there, in case something does go off and… we lose what's left."

"I will take care of that, Lady Finella. You don't need to worry about him any more than you have to. Just be careful. I need to go get Zenix and Dale, as well as a coffin for his body. Will you be alright until I get back?"

Normally in a situation like this, I'd hate to be alone. But I had to stay strong, for the town and for Aurora.

"…Yes, I… I should be alright. I'll get to work searching for explosives." I told him, removing my night robe to cover Visher's body, just in case somebody else arrived. Now wasn't the time to worry about being seen in basic pajamas, anyways. "Just… be quick, okay? If the person is still nearby, it wouldn't be safe to be alone. For any of us."

"I understand. I'll be right back." Garroth said before rushing back into the village.

I sighed softly, murmuring soft encouragement to myself as I moved to the edge of the sands, carefully digging about to find any hidden TNT. The water was absolutely freezing, and without my robe the chill, early morning wind stung, but I had to endure it. For the sake of the village.

But once again, I gave something all of my focus, to the point where I didn't hear Aurora's approach, nor did I realize she was with a man who had lost the bounce in his shoulders.

"Finella!" Aurora called to me as the pair stepped onto the beach, their steps now muted by sand.

I jumped and slowly turned, standing upright again to face my co-Lord. I was about to ask why she had come back when I noticed Paul just behind her.

The man looked absolutely devastated from the sight of the ruined boat alone. I tried to find words to console him as he stepped in front of Aurora, scanning the ruins and landing on where Visher's body rested, covered still by my robe.

"Paul, wait, I… I don't think you should see." I told him, finally finding my voice as I quickly moved to guard the body. He may have been closer to start, but with his shock and my speed, I was easily able to block his path.

"Visher was my friend…" he began, his voice shockingly calm despite his pained expression. "I have to see… To know it's true… Please…"

"Aurora, should I…?" I asked, looking past him towards her.

"Paul, it… might be better to remember your friend how he was and how you knew him. If you see him like that…" Her voice trailed off, seeing that he remained unmoving towards her words. "If he's absolutely sure he needs to see, he should be allowed to see his friend." She finally said to me.

"I do, I need to see… Please, you must understand… I can't believe it's real otherwise…" Paul insisted, seeming to break even further with every passing second.

"Alright." I replied, giving a soft sigh. "Just understand that… it isn't a pleasant sight."

I gave him one last chance to change his mind before kneeling down and moving my robe, uncovering what I assumed was the top half of his body. The sound of Paul's voice cracking as he tried to speak was too much to bear, my ears folding over while I quickly re-covered the body.

A thick silence fell over us, and a glance up to Paul confirmed what I could only imagine. This man was officially broken, frozen in a mix of disbelief and grief. He didn't want to believe it still, but the evidence had made the reality clear.

Visher was gone, and we couldn't do a thing about it.

Moments later, Garroth returned with Dale and Zenix in tow, carrying a hastily made casket for Visher's body. Paul stepped back, still shell-shocked, as the latter two brought the wooden box over, moving to a small sand dune and sitting down to cry into his hands.

"I… can't believe this…" he said quietly to himself through the tears.

I watched him for a moment, giving a small sigh before turning to Garroth.

"Do you need help moving the body?" I offered, wanting to get him off the beach right away. He deserved a better resting place than our sands. "I looked around and couldn't find any other explosives, so I think we're safe for now."

"I would like some help, yes. Thank you for looking," he said, bending down next to me and beginning to gather up the remains. "You may need a new robe, though."

"That's fine, I'll find a new one later. For now, we should clean everything up before anyone else can arrive. I'm sure we weren't the only ones who woke up." I replied, helping him carefully lift Visher and move him into the box. I glanced back to Aurora, who had also moved a ways back to sit, holding herself with a look of uncertainty. "This might have been the first dead body she's seen… I wish she never had to see one…"

"I wish neither of you had to see it, but… we can't do anything about it now. The only thing we can do is make sure Paul and Visher get home safely, as well as ensure the villagers don't hear about it until we find out what happened."

"You're right…" I said with a sigh, standing and moving to the grassy edge of the beach, finding a flower and bringing it back and placing it over Visher. "We'll need a new boat… I'll talk to Aurora about it. She needs something to distract her. I know I did when I first… yeah…"

I let my voice trail away, shaking the memory off. Now wasn't the time to think about it. Without another word, I left Garroth's side for Aurora's, sitting beside her to offer a weak smile.

"Hey… Holding up alright?"

"I don't know…" she replied after a moment of silence and a brief look towards me, her eyes trained on the sand.

"It's… hard the first time, I know. It doesn't ever get easier, either. But for right now, we have a duty to everyone here. Paul is going to need a boat home, and… Visher's family will need to know. I can handle talking to his wife, but… could you build us a new boat? It might help you relax, right?"

"It might… Let me just… go and get some supplies. We're going to need a whole new boat. I don't really trust that one will hold itself together much longer."

That said, she slowly stood up again, beginning to walk back up the hill. Presumably to get some wood. I quickly stood with her, offering a bit of a stronger smile. If I could keep smiling, maybe she'd be able to as well.

"Would you like me to help you? Company helps, too. I… I'd feel awful leaving you alone."

*'Especially if the culprit is still near,'* I added in my mind, knowing that such a statement would make her worry.

"Uhm… It might be a little nice to have some company," she agreed, pausing in her step so I could follow.

"Alright. Admittedly, I did sort of do some… 'chopping'… earlier by the house. I left some logs there, but we might need more. We should stop by home to get some tools!"

"You mean you didn't bring anything with you earlier?"

"I…"

"…forgot? Finella, we _really_ need to work on that memory of yours…" Her words came out with a soft laugh, and the sound of it warmed my heart once more. To the point where I couldn't exactly argue.

"Yeah, I guess we do. But hey, thinking about it, it'll probably be best for us to change anyways, right?"

"That is true… Alright, we'll stop by home first." Aurora agreed, leading the way back up the hill.

While the morning didn't have the best of starts, at least we could try to be back in our usual spirits by the time the sun began to rise a few minutes later.

* * *

Once we changed, the two of us together began to harvest however many more trees Aurora thought we'd need for that adventure, discussing our plans for the day to come. I planned to be the one to accompany Paul home and deliver Visher to his family, while Aurora would stay behind to watch the village. But plans, like our lives, are prone to change. Neither of us knew at the time just how important this one event could have been to us or our future's in this villager, nor could we have guessed the domino effect it would trigger.


	8. Preparing for a Voyage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Six

It took us only about an hour or two to gather up the wood we'd need, thanks to the time I spent breaking down trees earlier to vent out my anger. After confirming that we had enough logs, I gathered them all up and brought them down to the beach, walking beside her.

* * *

"You sure thirteen'll be enough for us?" I asked, looking to the mass of logs in my arms from our combined efforts. Thirteen logs rested haphazardly in my arms, threatening to fall should I make even one wrong step, as a result from our efforts to gather enough for a decently sized boat.

"Of course," Aurora replied, setting down a crafting bench and chest once we reached the sands. "It's always better to have more, but this should already be plenty plus some. Go ahead and start breaking them down into planks so I can start on building."

I gave her a nod and wasted no time in getting to work, setting the logs down in a bit of a messy pile before starting to bust each one into planks. This kind of thing was actually incredibly fun; it was nice to use my hands for something outside of fighting or general survival. As I broke them down, Aurora began using her magicks, levitating the planks and preparing them into the shape of a simple yet sturdy ship. After all, it only really needed to be large enough hold Paul, myself, and Visher's coffin, and sturdy enough to bring me back safely.

Before long, I had finished breaking the logs into individual planks, stretching my arms and hands out to relieve the soft aches that had begun to form. Of course, I was done far before Aurora was.

"While you're working on that, is there anything else you'd need me to run out and get? The sun's already starting to rise, so things should be much safer for distance traveling," I offered, feeling awkward now that I had nothing to do to help.

"Um…" Aurora began, having to pause her construction in order to think. "Probably some more wool. I don't have enough to make a full sail, so it would be nice to get some more."

"Roger that. Be back in a flash!"

I raced off again into the woods, the light of sunrise guiding me through the trees as I dodged what mobs still remained above-ground to reach the plains just beyond the tree-line. Once there, it was only a matter of time before I found a herd of sheep, and with my speed? Time was always on my side.

Problem was, I'd also need to make sure I had food for my journey, so I couldn't just settle on a small herd without any wheat to help them repopulate what I needed to take. Passing up a few scattered sheep, I eventually came upon a surprisingly large herd, pulling out my dagger and leaping in to swiftly end only a few lives. Just enough to provide meat for my journey and wool for the sails.

After about an extra half hour of harvesting the few sheep I culled, I raced back to the village, and by then the sun was up enough to chase away the mobs I had passed on the way. Most of the boat had been completed as well in my absence, which meant that just the sail would be left pretty soon. What really surprised me, however, was the rather impressive size of the ship. It was certainly larger than Visher's previous boat and had more than enough room for the three of us plus some.

"Should this be big enough?" Aurora asked when she noticed my approach.

"Whoa…" I breathed in response, unable to really process just how much work she had done in the span of forty-five or so minutes. "You're seriously good at this. I probably would have just made a bunch of dinghies and strung them together."

I gave an awkward laugh as I placed the wool in a chest she made for spare materials. She gave a 'thank you' in return, as well as a warm smile. She had always seemed to act so modestly when it came to her building capabilities and magicks, yet to have built a simple yet impressive ship with room for an entire crew? In less than an hour? I could never do something as incredible as this.

"You can handle the town on your own, right?" I asked after the wool was all contained. "If something – anything – goes wrong, send somebody to get me, okay? I'll come back right away if ever you need me." I hesitated a moment as I stepped a little closer to the ship, glancing back to her. "Unless… you  _want_  to come with…?"

"I think I'll be okay here. I don't really think I could handle giving Visher back to his family. Besides," she paused to look back towards our village with another warm smile, "one of us needs to stay. At least to make sure everything stays in order."

"Alright. If I need you, though, I'll come back, okay?" I told her, relieved to see her smiling more already. "Although… I'm starting to doubt that I'd really be the best person to handle something as delicate as this. Maybe we should send Garroth as a representative?"

"With all due respect, Lord Finella," a guard's voice came, and looking around, I found it to belong to Zenix. "Garroth has a duty to protect the village. A matter such as this should be handled by the Lord."

"Shit… Guessed as much," I replied with a sigh, rubbing the back of my neck before turning back to Aurora. "I'll figure something out."

"I'm sorry. Just try to stay as polite as possible," Aurora said as she finished the boat itself, moving onto the sail.

"I'll, ah… I'll do my best."

Turning to face the casket once more, another, much quieter sigh escaped me. This really was a seriously delicate situation, and I wasn't exactly the most sensitive person. Sure, there were moments of understanding, like with Aurora seeing her first dead body, but to tell a woman that she's now a widow and her child is now fatherless? Especially when we've never even met before? How would I even explain the fact that he technically died on the territory of the village I co-govern?

Zenix certainly must have known as much, as he just stood there, almost relishing in the discomfort showing on my face. It was almost like he was hoping one of us would quit our position from an event like this, and it was quite clear that neither of us would be willing to do this without the other. He gave off a feeling that read something akin to 'this is a lucky break.'

"I'm finished with the boat now," Aurora said about ten minutes later, the sail finally set up. "If… you really want me to go along to help, I don't mind."

"Ahm…" I pulled my hand from my neck, turning back around to face her with a bit of an awkward smile. "I think I would like for you to come, actually…"

"Shouldn't at least one of you stay for the sake of the town? What if the culprit returns?" Zenix protested, that 'lucky' glint in his eyes fading as I rolled my own.

"You and Garroth handled things just fine before us, right? If anything, they might just follow us out. Besides, if the culprit returning was  _really_  your worry, then  _I_  should be the one to stay behind, not Aurora. But she can't do something like this alone, and for once I'll admit: neither can I. So, from here on, we're basically a package deal."

I watched as Zenix quickly bit his tongue, making quite the sour face under the guise of 'thinking.' Just as it was clear neither of us could handle this kind of event on our own, it wasn't hard to see that I was the biggest thorn in his side. Thing is, I wasn't even suspicious of him being a bad person; I honestly thought of him as a troubled soul.

"Of course, m'Lord. Apologies for speaking so boldly against your decision," he soon said, returning to a more humbled appearance as he lowered his head to us. In the end, he had to keep Aurora from suspecting him any further.

After a few seconds of awkward silence from me, Aurora finally piped up again.

"Then I think I can join you. It might be good for someone to let Paul know the boat is ready for whenever he's prepared to return home."

"I'll let him know," Zenix stated, leaving before either of us could protest.

"Good thing he volunteered," I admitted once he was out of view, "I don't think I could bring myself to tell him we're ready to bring him home this soon. Poor man… He must still be grieving. Travel won't be easy for him."

Another sigh as my eyes naturally found their way back towards the casket.

"I'd better get that on board before he shows up."

I gave her that sole warning before hurrying over to the casket, attempting to lift it on my own, but barely managing to drag it an inch across the sand. Now I had a much stronger respect for Garroth, muttering as such as I decided to just do this the easy way. Blessed be enchanters and their ability to make it so backpacks could carry things of all weights and sizes.

* * *

So, after scooping the casket into my bag and tossing it back over my shoulders, I decided to simply return to Aurora's side and await Paul's return to the beach. By all means, we shouldn't have expected him to be ready that very day, so there was no reason for us to wait beside the boat. Perhaps it was because, with or without him, the delivery of Visher's body needed to be handled right away. Which simply happened to be the very day of his death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Holy cow it's been a while! Finals came up and I was seriously stressing over this and that; change in majors from Adolescence Education to English Humanities, the fact the my Annotated Bibliography and Mapping Essay for the semester-long Research Essay were behind, the many lab write-ups and projects for geology... It was a train wreck you guys, but I managed to pass! Even got a 99/100 on the Research Essay I was most stressed over! But summer's finally here, so hopefully I'll return to proper, regular updates!
> 
> I also want to thank the three people who, despite this seeming to be a dropped project, decided to be kind and drop some kudos. I really hope it lives up to your expectations for the future, and please by all means leave a review to let me know your thoughts! This may be based on a role-play with my girlfriend, but it's more 'based on' than a proper transcript of it. I've edited and redone so many things from it, expunging this or altering that... Role-plays are messy, you guys. Think of the RP more as this story's rough draft, and this is the revised/finished version! Such is the writing process. Anyways, once again, thanks for the kudos!
> 
> Friday updates are BACK!


	9. Delivering the News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Seven

We spent most of the morning waiting by the ship. Zenix had returned at some point around probably 8 to assure us that Paul had agreed to leave today, despite how recent the event was. Honestly, by this point, I had strong respect for Paul. By all means, he should have a day or two, maybe longer, to simply mourn the loss of his friend before having to return home with his corpse and sad news, but he was willing to power through, get it over and done with.

Paul eventually returned to the beach around 11, having spent those few hours getting as much out of his system as he could from what I could guess. The man looked  _exhausted_ ; eyes red and swollen, tears stained on his equally reddened cheeks, hair a mess, shoulders sagged, pace unsteady, and just all in general still trembling from possibly the worst morning ever.

None of us said a word as I helped him to board the ship, Aurora following behind us. I found him a place on the upper deck to relax, Aurora double-checking the piece Garroth had delivered to us after Zenix had swung by with his message. Supposedly, it would help make the boat run properly without heavy use of winds on the sail. I didn't understand it, but Aurora was able to install it no problem, so it seemed she did at least.

Now the biggest problem was how to actually sail.

* * *

"Are you sure you can steer a ship?" Aurora asked me as I moved to take the helm.

Paul remained quiet, only intending to point us in the direction of his home from where we were. Of course, Aurora's question did raise his already high anxiety just a bit.

"Ah…" I began, looking between them both, then to the horizon. "I mean, I'm pretty sure. Can't be too different from a rowboat, right? Alrighty, let's go! Sails away!"

For once, however, my confident grin wasn't enough to convince my co-lord, or our passenger. Especially given that I wasn't even sure that 'sails away' was something a captain would call out to set sail.

"Not really…" Aurora replied with a nervous laugh, clearly a little uncomfortable with  _me_  steering the ship.

"My village is that way," Paul piped up, figuring that it was decided as to who was even taking him home, "It's pretty obvious once it comes into view."

"Gotcha. Onward we sail!"

I began turning the wheel, thinking that would be all I had to do to get the wind caught in our sails and start moving. Problem was, we were barely budging, and I had no idea why.

"Erm… Aurora, do  _you_  know how to move a ship? I don't think my 'trial and error' tactic is working this time."

"I know enough," Aurora replied after a small sigh, followed by a little nervous laugh, "Mind if I take over? It's been a while since I last sailed a boat, so it might take me a moment."

"Be my guest, I'm stumped here."

I made an 'after you' gesture as I backed away from the wheel, giving her an awkward laugh of my own. Glancing away as she took my place, I could see the rather unnerved expression on Paul's face.

"Ah, sorry, didn't mean to frighten ya. I've always wanted to try sailing, but books were… really boring. Guess I should give them another shot… maybe." I admitted, having to quickly come up with a reason as to why I never learned from a book.

"Take your time learning," was Paul's very simple response.

"Of course."

I moved to sit awkwardly nearby him, the both of us now watching Aurora as she re-learned the basics of the ship. She really seemed to know her stuff, for somebody who couldn't remember much about themselves. She must have picked it up somewhere along her own travels before the village or something like that. Sure enough, a few minutes after I passed it over to her, we had started moving in the direction of Paul's hometown; Bright Port.

"You uh… You definitely seem like you're doing better at least," I spoke up after we began to move, tired of the awkward silence.

"I guess I am doing better…" Paul replied after a hollow-sounding laugh. "I had some time to mourn and remember him at least, and I plan on giving my friend a proper burial once we get back but… I'm honestly dreading seeing Matilda and John; Visher's wife and son."

"You don't have to fret about that, I'll handle it. With Aurora's help, of course. It happened in our village, so as the Lord's, we must take responsibility for it. I'd rather know you're taking care yourself, first. I'm sure Visher wouldn't want to put you in a tight spot, so I won't."

"I… Thank you," Paul began, lowering his eyes to the floor. "I can't say thank you enough for this. And… I'm sorry you both have to deal with this…"

"Hey, relax. Your friend just got attacked; there's no reason for you to apologize to us about anything," I stated without really thinking about it, just about instantly regretting my words. "Shit, ahm, sorry, that probably sounded horrible, I just meant that… You shouldn't be taking the brunt of it all…"

And here's why I was glad Aurora agreed to come with us. I wasn't exactly the most delicate in these situations.

"It's alright. I know what you meant… Thank you." Paul looked up again, first a small glance to me, then ahead to see how close we were. "There. That's where we need to be."

He pointed ahead to a cliff face approaching, speaking loud enough for Aurora to catch his voice as well. After a dash to the bow of the ship, I managed to spot the docks we'd need to pull into and call back to Aurora where exactly they were against the cliff.

Honestly, seeing it approach, all I could think about was that if I  _had_  managed to get the ship going… I definitely would have crashed it.

"I didn't realize there was another village so close to us. Cool," I commented upon our approach.

To think, I could have ended up  _there_  instead of our currently still unnamed village. Possibly even Aurora, too.

"We're just out of view of one another. But we are quite close," Paul agreed as Aurora began slowly the ship for the purpose of docking.

"Alright," I began, stretching a bit and returning to Aurora and Paul, "so this Matilda… Where could I find her and uh… how delicate should we be?"

With any luck, she might be a tough, strong-minded woman who could handle news such as this as well as anyone could hope. The biggest concern was the fact of his son, John. I could explain things to an adult, but to a child? When I hardly even  _liked_  children? If he was there, I'd screw it all up for sure, even with Aurora's encouraging presence.

"She's usually at her house. I can at least bring you there. And… she's pretty… um… I can't explain how she is, but I'm… kind of afraid of her. She won't react well to the news, I know that much," Paul explained, his expression darkening once more.

So much for that hopeful luck. A small pit formed in my stomach, knowing I'd have to skip the sugar-coating and just be blunt if she'd take the news poorly regardless of anything.

Aurora finally slowed enough, bringing the ship up alongside the docks to stop before stepping away from the helm and facing us, "We're here."

"Alright, then… Lead the way, Paul," I said, shifting anxiously on my feet once I was beside Aurora. "Just let me know what I should say, alright? If I deliver the news, she should only get mad at me, right?" I asked her softly, starting to follow after the man who had gone silent.

"I… guess?" Aurora replied, giving a soft nod to try and affirm her unsure response. "She'll probably ask who killed him… We shouldn't lie, even it it'll hurt her more. Just tell her we don't know and will find out as soon as possible."

"Gotcha."

I gave her a small nod, bringing my attention ahead of us to Paul again. It didn't take us much longer to reach Visher's former home, at which point he quickly excused himself and rushed away to his own home to finally mourn.

Taking in a small breath to steel my nerve, I gently knocked on Matilda's door, repeating what I should say time and time again in my head; despite this, I doubted I could say it properly.

Aurora stood somewhat behind me, watching the door as a woman soon opened the door. The woman I could only assume to be Matilda just gave us a very confused stare for a few moments before speaking.

"How can I help you?"

"Um… Hello, ma'am…" I began awkwardly, slightly intimidated by her furrowed brow. Didn't help that she, much like everyone else I met, was at least a few inches taller than me. "You're Matilda, right? My name is Finella; I'm a co-lord of the village across the water and… Well, I… don't exactly bring good news."

With any hope, she'd at least let us in rather than having us explain things out in the open. That would just make things awkward and painful for the entire town.

Matilda only responded with silence for a few moments, her confusion shifting to worry as she stepped aside.

"Please, come inside," she told us, waiting for us to enter before closing the door and moving to be the furthest inside. "I… don't understand what you mean. What news?"

I had another awkward moment of silence, holding my left arm nervously. We were still so early in our Lordship; why did something like this have to occur when we were still learning the ropes?

"You see, ma'am…" I began, trying to put the words together, "Last night, there… there was an attack on our docks. We aren't sure who did it, or even why, but… your husband, Visher, was caught in the attack. I'm sorry, but… he didn't make it."

I paused to take my bag off, pulling the casket out off to the side for her.

"We figured it would be best if he was buried near his family."

While I spoke with his mother, Aurora took notice of a young boy presumed to be John peeking around the corner nearby, listening in to the whole thing. I noticed her walk away to speak with him, but my own conversation made it impossible to hear what she may have been discussing.

"H-he… Visher is…?" Matilda choked on her own words, crumbling to her knees beside the coffin almost as soon as I brought it out. One glance was enough to see the tears threatening to overflow from her wide, horrified eyes. "He can't be… Ar-are you sure…?"

She turned to me as the tears began to stream down her face. The desperation in her expression nearly broke me down to the point of being unable to answer her.

"I'm afraid so, ma'am… I was among the first there. I can't say why the docks had been attacked or why he was killed. I promise we will find the one responsible for though. I only knew him for a day, but I could tell he was a good man."

The best I could do was attempt to offer  _some_  comfort to her, if only a little bit. She responded with silence for a few seconds, clearly thinking quite deeply about the information she had just been given. Sure enough, however, she was definitely angry with us.

"How could you come here and tell me this and not know who did it? You have to find out who killed him…!"

"Of course, we plan to. I just…" I paused for a moment, shaking my head and trying again. "We felt that it was best for you to know right away. Our guards are already looking into it, and as soon as we figure anything out, we'll be sure to update you immediately."

It took everything in me not to lash out at her. Visher had died not even 12 hours ago, and in the earliest hours of morn at that; did she seriously expect us to have answers right away like that, when most of the village was asleep? It was ridiculous to think we'd know  _anything_  at this point, but I knew I couldn't say such.

Matilda was quiet again for a few moments, taking a small breath to calm herself again before speaking again.

"Please… I'd like some time alone with my son," she said, lowering her voice to a point that was barely audible, even for me. "Just… please leave. Thank you for bringing my husband home."

And that's when I remembered: right, she had a son. I quickly scanned the home, finding Aurora speaking to the child by the corner, relieved that she took the initiative on handling that blow.

"It's no pr- er… Sorry again for your loss. We'll… leave you be, then."

I quickly walked over to Aurora, placing a hand on her shoulder and letting her know that it was time to wrap it up and leave. I didn't look at the kid until he said something to Aurora, apparently responding to my 'time to leave.'

"Good luck finding the bad guy," he told her, immediately leaving us to stand beside his mother.

Aurora gave him a nod, followed by a second to me as she stood and we left.

"Did… did it go okay?" she asked me after we were back outside.

"Oh, she's pissed for sure," I stated bluntly with an exhausted look on my face. "No wonder Paul was so grateful that we were doing this for him… she's so mad that we haven't already found the culprit. It literally  _just_  happened! What were we supposed to do, hold his corpse 'til we found the guy  _then_  tell her? That's just messed up!"

"Finella, take a deep breath, okay?" Aurora quickly said, "I'm sure she's in shock and just… angry and emotional; I can't even imagine what she's going through. Give her some time to calm down and we'll come back when we know who killed her husband. Until then… Let's go home. I'm tired and I really just need to forget about this for a little while…"

Honestly, had she not spoken up, I would have ranted for perhaps another ten minutes or so. I still wanted to anyways, but I knew she was right. Taking a small breath to calm down, I gave her a little nod to let her know I understood.

"Yeah… Think you could teach me how to sail on the way back, actually? It would probably be good if I knew, just in case I have to travel on my own."

It might actually be good for me to get my mind off things, as well.

"Yeah, I don't mind doing that," she replied with a nod, even giving me a small smile upon our return to the docks. "I do hope we travel together more, though. I… enjoy your company and I wouldn't know what I'd do if you disappeared one day and I was left alone as Lord."

I nearly stumbled as I walked, my heart skipping a beat in the process. Just… not because of my stumble.

"Wow… I've never actually heard anybody say they liked my company before. Probably cuz I'm usually traveling alone. Gotta admit though… I do like working together with you. It's a little tough for me, learning how to cooperate and all, but I like a challenged. I promise, I won't ever abandon you to handle everything alone."

"It's tough for me, too. I'm sure you'd at least let me know somehow if something happened. I'm not sure how, but I'm that, as an adventurer, you'd find a way."

"Of course. Adventurers always find ways out of tough situations, and no matter what we can always find a way to get a message sent somewhere!" Of course, that was only said to sound cool. Certain situations couldn't be avoided, and many of those situations would make sending a message impossible… "Anyways, sailing lesson one! Ready when you are, Captain!"

I quickly and easily leapt up onto the boat rather than boarding the proper way, turning to look down at her with a proud, eager expression.

"You really don't have to call me 'captain,'" she told me as she boarded the ship normally. "All you have to do is what I explain to you. But I do have to warn you, I've never taught anyone anything before, so this might be confusing."

"It's been ages since I've actually had somebody teach me something, so don't worry too much about it. I have faith in ya, Aurora. Just take it slow, I can be surprisingly patient when I have to be."

So long as I actually had interest in whatever was happening that required me to be patient.

"Alright, well to start…"

Aurora went on to explain just about all she could about the ship and how it worked on top of what I needed to know just to get it to sail. I did the best I could at listening, constantly having to force myself to bring my attention back to her lesson. Sure enough, it wasn't exactly the most riveting of things to learn.

"So, uh… Could you show me how you got the boat going earlier?" I asked after about ten or so minutes into her lesson. At this point, I was just more confused than anything else due to the large amount of information.

Hell, maybe I'd learn better just by watching her; otherwise, I just wouldn't be cut out for sailing anything outside a rowboat.

"Of course. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it," she said, showing me exactly what she had done before to get us moving, although not doing much else.

I made sure to watch her intently, noting every movement she had made in the process of getting us turned into the wind. Sure enough, the 'show' was more interesting than the 'tell.'

"Cool… Can I give it all a shot? I think I've figured it out."

"Sure," she said, stepping aside to let me take the helm. "Just don't take it too fast, okay? We really don't want to crash the ship."

"Gotcha!"

* * *

Following her occasional advice, I turned us out of the cove we had docked into and aimed us back towards our home. At this point, while he himself was not forgotten, we had managed to let the horrible events of that morning out of our minds for the time being. I even found myself doing what I could to extend the kind of short journey across the waters to our home solely to let us relax for just a little bit longer.

After the kind of morning we had, I felt we deserved that much. Especially Aurora.


	10. Good to be Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter eight

****

There was only so long I was able to delay our arrival in our village, mostly because there were still damages to be repaired at the beach along with confused and possibly frightened villagers to reassure. Plus, Zenix may have been correct in worrying about a second assault, and I wasn't intending to allow that.

After wasting perhaps an extra hour, leaving us closer to mid-afternoon, I finally brought the ship back towards our beach to discover an entirely new problem all of its own.

* * *

"Uh, quick, how do I slow down?" I asked as the beach began to  _rapidly_  approach us.

"Ah… Just… do the steps backwards…!" Aurora replied, having forgotten to explain that part to me while we were still a good distance away.

"Backwards?!"

My mind fell into a panic as I attempted to swiftly reverse every step I had performed in my mind, all while trying to keep the ship from veering into anything but the sands of the beach.

I did the best that I could, and managed to at least slow us a little, but the crash onto our beach was inevitable. At the very least, however, I managed to slow the ship enough to prevent serious damages to either the beach, the ship, ourselves, or the dock that had been recently rebuilt.

"Well… On the, uh… the bright side, it looks like the repairs on the dock were finished," I commented with an excited but awkward laugh, pushing myself back up onto unsteady feet. Man, I loved adrenaline rushes.

"Oh…" came Aurora's soft voice as she adjusted herself, having managed to brace for impact on the ship's railing. "Well… I guess that's true… We should probably go and uh… talk to Garroth, let him know we're back."

I took a few moments to carefully stretch out my limbs, every part of me feeling sore from that very sudden stop.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I replied afterwards. "Sorry about crashing the boat, I'll help you get it back into the water later. Promise." Another pause to offer her my hand, my other rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "Guess I'm really not cut out for this, huh?"

"It's okay. It wasn't as bad as what happened when  _I_  first learned to sail," she said as she took my hand and stood a bit taller, nervously laughing in the process.

"I mean… At least I missed the dock, right?"

"That is very true."

We gave each other awkward smiles and laughs, allowing our bodies to settle and relax once more.

"Should I run ahead to find Garroth? After all, who knows where he even is," I pointed out, looking over the beach. I found a very tired Brendan, but otherwise there was nobody.

"Yeah, you could probably go ahead and talk with him. I think I'm too tired to walk around or talk with anyone else today," Aurora replied, moving to depart from the ship.

"Alright. Shall I help you home first, then? I'd feel a little bad leaving you on your own."

"That's okay, I'll be fine by myself. My home is only up that hill, remember?"

"Oh yeah, totally forgot how close we actually were to the beach. Alright, well, I'll see you up there in a bit, then."

With that decided, I easily hopped off the front of our ship and onto the sands, departing into the town to try and hunt our head guard down.

It wasn't as though there really was much to tell him, however. Our voyage was uneventful, Paul got home safely, Matilda hates us with every fiber of our being, and our goal was basically completed. The only real need to find him was simply to let him know we made it home safely.

And yet, I was in such an excited hurry to find him.

Eventually I did find him, doing his rounds as though nothing was different about today. Wanting to lighten the heavy mood surrounding him, I decided to have fun and startle him. Allowing a bit of distance to form between us, I dashed up from behind and easily leapt over him, turning to face him with an energetic "Hey there!"

Naturally, I failed to realize how terrible an idea that could have been.

Garroth reacted in half a heartbeat, swiftly drawing his sword and swinging to attack, but thankfully realizing who was standing before him and halting his blade mere inches from my face. I stood frozen in shock, my ears standing on end with my eyes focused on the blade that had nearly cut me down.

"Lady Finella?!" he gasped while I remained unmoving, "You must be careful! I almost injured you!"

"Ah…" I began, my ears going a little flat as it all sank in. "Sorry. It didn't cross my mind that you might react like this. But I doubt you would ever  _actually_  harm either me or Aurora. Like, right now! You stopped yourself just in time!"

I gave him a trusting smile, actually a little glad I had done something so foolish.

"It's actually quite reassuring to know your reflexes are that good. Anyways, I came to let you know that, obviously, we've returned from our trip. Matilda is… rightfully upset with us over the loss of her husband, but also upset that we haven't already caught the culprit behind it all," I reported, pausing before continuing on. "Have you noticed anything suspicious or… found any clues we can use?"

Garroth gave a heavy sigh as he replaced his blade into its sheath, ignoring my words prior to the report. He was still incredibly unhappy with my actions, even if it did prove his worth as a guard.

"No, not yet, ma'am. As of now, we are still searching. I've sent Zenix and Brendan off to the old Lord's house, just in case there may be something there we can use, as well as to remove the remainder of the structure itself."

"I see. I'll be sure to let Aurora know. As much as I do want to catch the criminal… don't exhaust yourself, alright? Or any of the others. It'll be pointless finding them that way, since you'd end up being too tired to actually take them down. I can always take over your rounds if you need. Lord or not, I want to help as much as I can."

"I know, and I do appreciate the sentiments," he replied, his tone finally softening enough to reassure me, in turn causing my ears to return to their normal position. "I'll be sure to let you know should anything come up that you could help with. But, for today, I think you both deserve some time to just relax. You've already done plenty for this town, after all." He paused again, a smile actually coming through his voice now. "But, as always… I won't stop you if you decide to wander about anyways."

"Ha, me? I've hardly done a thing for this town so far. I just… go where there's adventure. If not for Aurora, I… probably would have moved on that first day. I had no idea you were even there, and I was ready to just crash for a bit and bail. Of course, I'm really glad I didn't, given the mystery we have now and all, but at the same time I get this feeling like… somehow it was  _our_  fault that somebody attacked?" I hadn't intended to go on a rant like that, my ears and face both being quite obvious about the mix of guilt, concern, and confusion that flooded me all at once. "Shit, sorry, I'm still a bit used to just thinking aloud! Er, pretend you heard… basically none of that, okay?"

"Finella…" Garroth began as that tone of a frown returned, for the moment too concerned about my quick rant and emotional flickers to remember my 'title.' "I can't pretend to do something like that. If you honestly feel that way, you are free to speak with me about it. You have done just as much as Aurora has to help this town; even if you don't know it. Besides, I can't even  _imagine_  how either of you or your presence could have been cause for that attack, and regardless of if it was or wasn't, I swear to protect you both all the same until we find the one behind this mess."

I stared at Garroth, or rather, at his helmet, as I slowly processed everything he said. I wasn't exactly accustomed to somebody else saying they'd protect me; less so somebody I had fought minor battles with side-by-side for roughly a few months.

"I don't really need to be protected, but it's very kind of you to say," I began, feeling that overconfident and energetic smile slowly return. "I can keep Aurora safe, too… probably… so I think I'd feel better knowing you're just doing what I know you've always done: looking out for the villagers. Ah, speaking of, Aurora and I have been thinking of wats to help wake the others up. Brendan seems to have somehow regained consciousness all on his own, which is definitely cool, but majority of the villagers still seem… hollow. Do you think maybe playing matchmaker might help?"

Granted, I was fully aware that getting Dale and Molly hitched helped them regain their own consciousness, but seeing as Brendan basically woke up on his own… Well, there was a strong chance that those two also happened to wake up on their own.

What I wasn't aware of, however, was that Garroth had somehow learned of my little hijinks, made clear as his seriousness instantly vanished into a soft laugh.

"It seemed to have worked on Dale when you married him to Molly. Though, I'm sure most of the villagers will wake on their own, given time. Why not be patient and see before you decide to 'play matchmaker' again?"

"Ah… So, you knew that was me, huh? Busted~; I thought you hadn't notice I hooked them up," I replied, giving him a laugh of my own. "But yeah, that's true. I should give them a little more time first. Now on the other hand… do you think Dale and Molly would like kids?"

The third million-emerald question of the day.

Sure, they could be perfectly capable of doing so on their own in time, but with Molly still half-'asleep' and Dale's personality traits still returning, a kid might help snap things together. Far as I understood humans, it wouldn't even be all that hard to help them with that. Just make a special treat of sorts and they'll handle the rest on their own. While I may not be a big fan of children or anything, if them having one could benefit themselves as well as the village, it was hard to find a reason  _not_  to give it a try.

"You could always ask Dale," he began, "He is becoming increasingly more awake as the days pass. Either way, I'm sure he'd love to have a son or daughter someday. He certainly seems the type to be an eager father."

"Yeah, I suppose asking would be a good idea, wouldn't it? Well, guess I have some errands to run now before I head home. Who knows, depending on how things are going later, I might see about doing just a bit of traveling."

"Traveling? What do you mean?"

"Oh, well… I  _am_  and adventurer at heart, Garroth. I like to just wander about aimlessly for weeks on end, seeing if I can score some awesome look from a dungeon or just relieve some stress via culling of the evil mobs lurking below. That… wouldn't be an issue, right? Aurora could probably handle things for just a couple of days, and you'd be here to help her."

"Well…" Garroth let out a slow breath, turning towards the village as he thought of an answer. It wasn't strange for a Lord to go and see other villages or handle a dungeon, but that was only ever for the sake of the village; only ever in times where the Lord would  _need_  to do those things. "I'm sure we'd be able to handle things for a short time, but it may be a good idea to speak with Aurora first before you make a decision like that."

"'Course, I wouldn't wanna worry her. Much as it's adorable to see a… half-dragon, I think? We still haven't figured out what her lineage is…"

"She reminds me somewhat of a wyvern, actually."

"Huh. Anyways, it's super cute and endearing how soft and sweet she is, and while sometimes her worrying can be adorable… I'd feel horrible if I made her worry for a few days because I decided to just up and vanish on her. But with you here, as well as Dale and Zenix, I know she'll be safe. I'll still be around for a few days more, though; just to make sure things settle without any more trouble."

"It would be wonderful if you would. If the culprit behind the dock attack is still nearby, you may end up targeted when you try to leave for your exploration venture. It would be best if we ensured that possibility doesn't happen."

"I really doubt they'd be able to do anything to me, though. You've seen me fight, Garroth; I'm tougher than you think."

"Yes, I'm aware of your capabilities. You've proven to be able to handle mindless creatures with predictable attack patterns. This person is different. They used explosives, of which they may still have plenty. A person like that is far craftier than you may expect, which would work against a fighter of your style the rushes in to win with brute force. Even a single wrong move and you'd be left unable to defend yourself."

I fell quiet for a few moments, my ears and nose softly twitching in irritation while my eyes were filled with thought. In the end, they folded forwards in defeat, as I really couldn't come up with a counterargument for that. The closest thing to 'explosives' I had dealt with in battle were Creepers, and they weren't exactly 'crafty' or anything. So long as you had good reflexes, they were no problem, but a person with explosives that they could rig and hide? That definitely wouldn't be as simple to fight. In or out of the village, on my own or with the guards there to help.

We weren't prepared to fight an enemy like this.

"That… is true… and kinda scary, actually. Mostly because, without anyone knowing, they could so easily strike again… I don't want anyone else to die, Garroth. I'm certain that Aurora feels the same, as well. Whoever they were… we have to catch them."

"We will, I promise. At the very least, we'll do all we can to make sure they don't return to our village. But the biggest priority is ensuring that you and Aurora both are safe."

"I told you already, there's no need for you to worry about me," I insisted with a sigh, still unable to adjust to him being my guard as well. "Look, I'll go tell Aurora about everything we've discussed and then I'll rest up a bit. I'll put errands off until after. Make sure to stop by later, too; I'm sure Aurora would love to speak with you anyways, just in case I miss a detail or two."

* * *

Garroth had given me only a small nod in response, probably not wanting to bring forth more resistance from me or end up leading into another long conversation. I couldn't be sure.

Either way, with our conversation finished, I ran for home at an honestly slow pace for myself, in no real rush to arrive. The events of the day were playing again and again in my head as I tried to piece everything together, hoping that maybe somewhere I could find a clue or a hint as to what could have led this all to happen.

All the while I was unaware that Garroth's pressing to keep me and Aurora safe stemmed from his growing affections and attraction towards the both of us, or the fact that Aurora had somehow procured quite the surprise for when I  _did_  finally return home, which would have only happened a few minutes after my conversation with our head guard had finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> So, current followers of Aphmau and MCD itself would know that on 6/12/19, two days before this update on 6/14/19, it was confirmed that the original Minecraft Diaries was being rewritten and completely redone. I'm incredibly excited for this remake and am eager to see what all would be different about it from the original, and by tomorrow we'll get to see just how different things will be. However, this does means I have to make a statement.
> 
> This story, as mentioned before many times, is based on the role-play my girlfriend and myself have been doing since 3/13/18 solely based on the story and elements of the original MCD. I have no intention to alter anything about this fanfiction to fit the changes made by the remake, as that would mean a complete overhaul of everything she and I have done over the past year. It's hard enough to transcribe our entire role-play into a one-sided story from Finella's eyes, but to completely remake it based on a single remade episode when it isn't completely confirmed that the remake will continue and even possibly go beyond where MCD left off? It doesn't seem reasonable.
> 
> If you're a new fan of MCD that finds this because of the remake, please understand that yes, things may be drastically different from the new MCD, and no, I don't plan on changing anything. This is already basically our own remake of MCD itself, with our own characters and flair to change things up, so I see no real reason to adjust for the remake.
> 
> I greatly look forward to seeing this remake in action, and believe me I seriously hope that it does end up being more than just the first episode getting revamped! I also hope you continue to read as this progresses for our own version of the story, as certainly not everything will be the same as either version. Thanks for the support!


	11. Of Wolves and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Nine

* * *

"Aurora, news from Garro- aaaahhh!"

I burst into our shared home, ready to inform Aurora of the Lord's home and our current lack of leads only to find a  _wolf_  sitting in the living room. I let out my scream and leapt back to be in the doorway once more, ears standing up and tail bushed, my eyes trained on the canine.

"O-okay… that's… That's a wolf… um… g… good… doggy…?"

The wolf perked up by my presence, returning my frightened stare with a more curious one of his own. It didn't move in the slightest towards me, but Aurora stood from beside it to glance between us.

She seemed just as confused as the wolf was, taking a few moments before making an 'ooohhh' face and facing me properly.

"It's okay, Finella. He won't bite you. Sorry if he scared you; I heard him outside and… he sounded so sad…" She paused and knelt down beside him, making sure I could clearly see her hand on his new collar while she gently stroked his fur. "It's okay if I keep him, right?"

Normally, I would have demanded she got rid of it; wolves _ate_  rabbits, and they were usually the reason we had to relocate villages back when I was younger. But looking at her, she really couldn't see the ferociousness hidden behind those eyes of his, and seeing just how much she cared for him…

I found myself standing down.

"Er… We-well…" I stammered, forcing myself to try and at least  _appear_  relaxed and reassured for her sake. "It's… your house, technically… I guess… Just so long as he doesn't jump onto my bed… or approach me in any way… I'll try to deal with it."

Really, this just meant I'd have to hurry and learn how to build my own house so I wouldn't have to even worry about it. For now, I finally moved inside again, shutting the door behind me and cautiously moving to where my bed was along the wall.

"A-anyways… I, uh," a quick pause to clear my throat and steady my voice, "I just talked to Garroth. We didn't miss to much, still no leads with the explosives man and he sent Zenix and Brendan to clear out the old Lord's home. I figured maybe we could look into that later."

"Oh, really? Hmm… Maybe there's more stuff there we didn't see when we went there last time." Aurora agreed, looking to her wolf with a smile. "Oh! And maybe Ambrose can help us sniff something out, too!"

"Erm… Ambrose…?"

"Yeah, I think Ambrose fits him really well."

Right. Her wolf. That was the name she'd given him, probably even before I'd arrived. That, of course, meant I wouldn't have been able to force him away anyways. Once you name something, it becomes an attachment; one that can't easily be broken.

"Either way, there may be something we missed, like you said. After all, we were interrupted last time," I pointed out, adjusting the contents of my backpack to be better suited for a small trip instead of a long one, followed by taking some of the lambchop I had gotten earlier out to have a bit of a meal. "I'm so curious, I want to go right away, but… They only just started on it earlier today, so there may not even be much to find. It's only mid-afternoon now, though, so maybe by evening or nightfall when they return, we can do some snooping."

"I don't think Garroth would be happy if we went out during the night, though…"

"Hmpf, I can keep us safe, and he knows that. I was just distracted last time; I've learned, so this time around I can keep you safe for sure. I don't need a guard, and you have me as one. I mean, I'm an  _adventurer_ , for crying out loud! He's seen me fight! I'm not some delicate flower or anything! Ah, n-not to say  _you_  are, I mean, it's just… I haven't really seen you fight before, so I'm not too sure how well you could handle yourself in that kind of situation."

"It's okay, I understand what you mean," Aurora reassured me, thankfully not seeming to mind my 'delicate flower' comment, "I don't enjoy fighting much like you do. But you can't blame him for worrying too much. Someone just died, and their previous Lord was lost, remember? I think… it might be a matter of his pride."

"Fair enough, I guess…" I sighed, pausing to finish the slice of meat I had started, "But he should focus more on keeping you safe than me. He's lucky; I'm not seriously in the mood to fight tonight, actually. Still… he is right about one thing. So long as that murderer is out there, we should be cautious about traveling outside the village on our own."

"Well, we could always talk to him together about it sometime. And who knows, maybe he likes you~!"

I moved to lay back on my bed, using my arms to support my head a bit as I stared up at the ceiling.

"Likes me, huh…?" I muttered, mulling it over in my mind. "If that's the case, then I honestly feel a little bad for him. I told him this already, but honestly… If things are safe enough around here, after the dust settles and all, I might leave for a little while – a week at most – just to adventure around some, satiate my need to wander without a purpose.

Awful as it is to admit, peace is… kind of boring to me. Not to say I'd wish harm upon anyone or anything like that, nor would I ever hope for a war, but… I don't enjoy sitting idle somewhere with little or nothing to do. If the people aren't in serious need of help at the moment, I would like to explore and see if there might be anyone else I could lend aid to, maybe even find a trace of the culprit. Or just waste a couple of days in an old mineshaft searching for hidden treasures the town could use. You… wouldn't mind, would you?"

I turned to look towards her, a little hopeful that she'd be okay with me leaving for small portions of time to handle my hyperactivity without causing problems for the people of the village.

"You… want to go on an adventure?" She paused for a few seconds, looking to Ambrose to think about it. "Well… um… I suppose I don't mind…? I just don't know what I'll do without your help around here if you're gone for too long."

"I mean, I'd love to take you with me, but… one of us should remain here. It would be best to avoid the both of us disappearing too often if we have the ability to. Besides, I won't travel too far away, so you could probably just send for me. But, first thing's first, tomorrow we have to look into the Lord's house. Oh, and we should talk to Dale about giving him a kid. Much as I find them to be nuisances… it might not be a bad idea to start building up our population."

"Really? A baby?" Aurora asked, giving that kind of cute excited look towards me. "That'd be nice. A couple of children running around would be really cute~! I'm sure Dale would love a child, as well as Molly. They both seem like they'd become wonderful parents, especially once Molly becomes fully sentient."

Her gushing actually made me shudder a bit. How could anybody see the appeal in tiny, helpless, kind of annoying, needy little things that could barely communicate for the first few years of their lives? I couldn't even  _begin_  to imagine how unbearable I must have been as a child, and I had three other siblings born the same day as me! That just seemed like a nightmare to me!

"If it wakes people up… having a kid or two in the village couldn't hurt. At the very least, we've been making slow progress, which is better than nothing."

I rolled onto my side, facing out the window to the beach and feeling the exhaustion of lost sleep from this morning catch up to me.

"I don't know about you, but honestly… I'm a little tired. It might be early to sleep, but I think after today, we've earned the rest. We'll worry about everything tomorrow."

* * *

Aurora never responded verbally, but as I stared outside and pondered where I'd even venture when I had the chance to, I could hear both her and Ambrose get up and move to where she had set her own bed up. The mid-afternoon sun made it quite difficult to fall asleep, but I managed all the same, just as I always had.

I remember having a few scattered dreams and nightmares, both about the morning's events and what the future may hold for us, but nothing seriously detailed enough to note. Or horrible enough to prevent sleep. Thankfully for the both of us, we were able to sleep all through the night, allowing us a bright and fresh start on the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, short chapter today! Thinking about it, I probably could have just had this as the end of chapter eight, but bit too late for that! Besides, I'm currently in Maryland to visit my dad and younger brother, so it isn't as easy as I thought to keep up the schedule.
> 
> Also, I know last chapter I said I would be doing this purely off of our RP based on the original MCD, but something in the reboot struck me as I watched it, which was Brian. Looking back on the original, Brian's character made possibly the least amount of sense, going from child to near-adult faster than any other child in the series. We skimmed over that detail for the sake of our RP, but I think I'll find a way to tackle it myself when the topic comes up next chapter.
> 
> In other news though, god DAMN that reboot was good!


	12. Hidden Beneath the Rubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Ten

Once night fell, sleep came easier and remained steady for me. So steady, however, that I didn't even notice the sounds of a person entering our home and placing a key on the counter.

Either Ambrose also didn't wake to their presence… or he didn't bother to alert us to the trespasser.

Regardless of what had or hadn't been done by Aurora's new pet, I did wake up to him sitting uncomfortably close to my bed. Just staring at me. Nothing else. It unnerved me enough to call for Aurora to get him away from me so I could at least get ready for our visit to the former Lord's home.

* * *

"Really, Finella, he's just curious about you. I promise, he wasn't thinking of eating you," Aurora reassured me as she fed Ambrose, clearly amused by my mild freak-out.

"I'm telling you, the look he had in his eyes was  _not_  mere curiosity!" I countered as I placed my armor back on. "He needs to be trained so he doesn't end up attacking me; he's still a wolf beneath it all."

Aurora just shook her head with a sigh, leaving her dog to go and make breakfast, only to then stiffen and appear rather… uncomfortable.

"F… Finella…? Did… you leave a key on the counter last night…?"

"A key? Why would I have a key?"

I walked over to her to notice the new item, sitting in plain sight without any hint as to how it had even gotten there.

"Wait, so… so somebody just… walked into our house last night?" Aurora asked, now very unsettled.

"And that dog of yours didn't bother to wake us or attack them," I replied, quickly looking around the area. Sure enough, there was no sign of a fight, and a glance to the dog only earned me a confused head tilt.

"O-okay, um… maybe… he didn't think the person was a threat…?" Aurora suggested as she picked the key up. It seemed like she was more trying to ease her nerves over the incident than really wonder why we were given a key.

"But how could that even be possible? He was wild until you tamed him, wasn't he?"

"Um… sort of…? I mean… He was kind of friendly? But all wolves are until you attack them, so maybe friendly isn't the right word…"

"Alright, alright. Look, we'll figure out who broke in and why they gave us a key later. Let's just… focus on getting ready and taking on the tasks of the day."

With that agreed, we continued our morning routine, although still uneasy. Aurora made us a quick breakfast, I made sure my sword and dagger were equally sharp and prepared just in case, and within the hour we were prepared to go.

"Think we should ask Garroth or Zenix about the key?" I asked as we left, trying to think it over. "Maybe one of them found it last night but didn't want to bother us about it? Could explain why your dog didn't react to them in a hostile way."

"I don't know…" she replied in a murmur, but I was still able to catch her words. "It doesn't seem like something Garroth would do. He's more of a gentleman than that; he wouldn't just walk into our home at night. I don't want to think Zenix would, either…"

I began walking as she spoke, soon followed by her.

"Well, we can at least ask about it when we reach the former Lord's home. One of them ought to know. It's just too unnerving to think anyone else would have done it; Dale wouldn't just give us a key, and the rest of the villagers are still too dazed for something like that."

"I agree, though… I'm honestly kind of scared. What if it was from someone dangerous, or goes somewhere dangerous…?"

"Then I'll charge full speed ahead," I told her with a warm grin. "It'd be dull without a sense of danger. But I doubt a key like that could lead us anywhere  _too_  dangerous. Maybe it just leads to a secret meant for a select few?"

"Maybe…"

We went silent for the rest of the trip, which wasn't too much longer after our discussion. As we drew closer, Zenix and Brendan could be seen working to take down the ruins of what used to house a family.

"Come on, they look like they might have found something," Aurora said, picking up her pace a bit after spotting something I couldn't see.

"Oh, cool!" I replied, eagerly joining her.

I wanted to just run ahead, but I also didn't want to leave her behind. We were a team, after all.

Zenix was the first to notice us approaching, seeming to sigh before setting his pickaxe down to turn and greet us.

"Lady Finella, Lady Aurora, good morning," he said in a slightly stiff voice, greeting us in order of arrival.

"Mornin'! Garroth told me last night that you guys were taking the place down, so we figured we'd stop by and see how it was going," I explained, giving a wave to Brendan as he looked up.

All he offered was a smile and wave back, his cheeks filling with a slight pink tint.

"Are you doing alright?" Aurora asked to Zenix.

"I just don't understand why  _I_  have to do this work. I'm a Guard, dammit…" he replied bitterly.

"Ah… Well… You two looked like you found something, at least," she said to change the subject, to which Brendan replied with an excited smile and voice.

"Yeah! We found a hidden cellar under the floor."

He pointed towards the hole in the floor they had uncovered, earning a sigh from Zenix.

"I wanna see!" I replied, immediately moving to look down the uncovered stairs.

"Don't bother," Zenix spoke up again, "the door's locked and we can't get it open."

Despite his warning, I went down and attempted to force the door open anyways. Naturally, it didn't budge. I got a little irritated before remembering about the gift we received this morning, leaping up the steps in two bounds and returning to Aurora's side.

"Hey, think maybe it'll work on that?" I asked her, getting a curious raised eyebrow from Zenix.

"Oh, um… We could try it."

I followed her to the stairs to watch her, although she seemed to be growing a bit stiffer with each step lower. Placing the key into the lock and turning, she looked surprised that the key did actually work.

She opened the door to prove it was now unlocked, only to quickly flee back up the stairs with a rather uncomfortable expression.

"It's open," she told me, but I had already jumped down to the base of the stairs to enter the room.

Now I understood why Aurora looked so uncomfortable.

The room itself was pure pitch black with a single torch still lit somehow. That torch omitted enough light for a desk to be visible, along with a chest beside it and… an unnerving amount of spilled blood along the ground. I gave the chest a quick glance to find a set of very elegant looking clothes, gathering them up as a way to hide the book.

After all, the last time we had come here to find a book, it was stolen from us.

After double-checking, I hurried back out of the room and upstairs to stand beside Aurora and show her the clothing.

"This is all that was in there. Figured we could at least hang it up at the house or something."

While we did have Zenix the guard-in-training and Brendan the farmer here with us, I wasn't so sure that we wouldn't end up having a repeat of our previous visit.

"I think that'd be okay," Brendan piped up, wanting to still be a part of the conversation. "Just as long as you let Garroth know about it, or if you find anything weird about them."

Zenix shot Brendan a bit of side-eye as if to say that wasn't his call to make, but the damage had already been done.

"Thanks, guys!" I said happily, turning to lead Aurora away when Brendan spoke up again.

"Oh, by the way! If you guys are free, you should head over to the plaza! My sister arrived last night, and I think you'd both really like her!"

"Your… sister?" I paused, looking back towards him as Zenix placed a hand over his face, seemingly out of irritation. "Wait, you have a sister? Why didn't you tell us before? Sure, we'll definitely go visit her later! Good luck with clearing this all out!"

I gave him one last excited wave before turning again, taking Aurora's hand and pulling her away from the house. Mostly because I  _really_  wanted to bring the book up to her and didn't want to end up caught in extra conversation that would take the rest of the day.

"By the way, Aurora…" I began once we were decently away from the house, "why didn't you come down into the cellar?"

Thinking it over, it didn't seem as though she could have seen the horror beside how dark it was.

"It felt wrong to me… There was something… bad down there. It made me feel sick. It was there before I opened the door, too, but not as much. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well… You weren't wrong about that feeling, at least. It looked like there was a nasty struggle down there."

"A-anyways, what did you find? Clothes alone aren't that interesting."

I paused, glancing about with my ears honed for any unusual sounds nearby. I didn't pick up on anything, but I lowered my voice anyways, just to be safe.

"I found another journal. I wasn't going to make the mistake of trying to have it be read there again, so I thought it'd be safer to hide it and read it at home. As for the clothes… Well, they looked like something a Lord would wear, right? They might have a hint of their own, and I do think it'd be cool to have them up somewhere so people at least know that our home is where the new Lords reside."

"Oh! That… makes a lot more sense. Let's hurry up and get back home, then. I don't mind making a stand for the clothes to hang on, since you like the idea. Do you think the book has the same kind of writing as the last one…?"

"I don't doubt it, but the quill wasn't on the desk or nearby. It looked like whoever was writing in this one was interrupted. But you know… now I'm  _really_  curious about that key… Who here would have known to give it to us when we'd only just decided to go there? It definitely couldn't have been either of those two, otherwise they would have just unlocked it."

Aurora had already ruled out Garroth, and now the only other possibilities were out. I didn't want to admit it to her, but this simple little key and the coincidence of it fitting that recently uncovered door… It was actually starting to unnerve me a little.

Through all my little adventures, I'd come close to death countless times, seen some wild things, and stirred up quite a bit of trouble here and there. But to have somebody hiding away from us, managing to avoid my senses like this, basically manipulating us ever so subtly? This was a first, and I greatly disliked it.

Aurora didn't respond this time, clearly as uncomfortable as I was, so the rest of the way home was silent. I let go of her hand as we scaled the hill, needing to focus on the clothes and journal hidden amongst them. She opened the door to let an excited Ambrose outside, who promptly greeted his master home. I avoided the dog to just slip inside.

"At least Ambrose doesn't look nervous or freaked out," she said, trying to ease the mood.

"That just unnerves me more…" I replied, giving the dog a bit of side-eye. For all I could tell, he used to belong to whomever left us that key, which would make him some weird spy or something… somehow. "Anyways, let's get to reading this thing."

I set the clothing on the ground beside my bed as I sat down on it, pulling the journal out as she sat beside me. I handed it to her like before, letting her read over it before questioning its contents.

"It looks like your theory about him being an awful father was wrong, Finella," she began, still reading through it carefully when I questioned. "Basically… somehow, he knew something was wrong, although he didn't say what, and that he was planning to leave with his family in order to keep them safe. He also mentioned that this place is called Phoenix Drop, and… um… th-the last thing he wrong was that… he could hear something upstairs, but… that's where it cuts off…"

"I thought there might be something more to these rumors about Lords just vanishing from their villages," I replied, mulling the current information over. Bodies were never found, and the villagers would always suffer some strange zombifying amnesia.

"Now I'm really worried… What could have happened after that noise? Who took him?" She flipped through all the pages once more to try and find anything new, but there really wasn't anymore writing anywhere. "I just hope his family escaped… Maybe we should ask Garroth about all this? Let him know what we found?"

"I have this weird feeling that this isn't something you can just bring up in casual conversation, though. If he knew this was what happened to the last Lord, he'll end up being twice as protective of us as he is now, and I'm really not sure I want that. Still, I do think he has a right to know we found a clue about it…"

I groaned, laying back onto my bed as I tried to make a decision.

"I don't know how to handle something like this. Would we even be able to find his family if they made it out? They might have answers, but they're missing… They could be anywhere… Alright, for now, let's just take our time to think about it. How about we just visit Brendan's sister for now? Welcome her to the village and ease our nerves? The answers might come to us in the process."

Plus, if she arrived last night, wouldn't there be a chance she was the one to give us the key somehow? I didn't want to think of her as a possible suspect, but I had to take all angles into account for our safety.

"Sure, I can agree with that. For the time being… let's just keep it all a secret between us until we learn more," she suggested, getting up and hiding the journal between her mattress and bedframe. "Whoever knocked us out back then took the book from us, so I'm going to hide it this time around."

"Good idea. Until we know for sure what happened, it's best we don't let anyone know and keep it hidden away."

"Thanks. Come on, let's go say hello to Brendan's sister."

I nodded and stood up, going to the door and holding it open for her.

"After you, 'milord,'" I said jokingly, hoping to lift the mood again.

Thankfully, it worked, and I got a soft laugh out of her as she walked outside.

"Come on, it'd be best if we get down there soon, otherwise it'll look like we might have actually found something to whomever seems to be watching us."

"Good point."

* * *

With a rougher than expected morning out of the way, we made our way towards the town plaza. Of course, it technically wasn't much of a plaza yet, but it was still decent enough to be called one.

All we wanted at this point was to de-stress and forget about the decision we'd have to eventually make. What we weren't expecting was actually a more than needed pleasant meeting with possibly the sweetest girl I've met since Aurora.


End file.
